Bicameral, Bipartisan Leaders to Biden: Now is Vital Opportunity to Enact Meaningful Cancer Prevention Reforms

Washington, D.C.--As the lead sponsors of the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act (S. 1873 and H.R. 1946), U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), member of the Committee, U.S. Representatives Terri Sewell (D-Alabama) and Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), both members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Representatives Raul Ruiz (D-California) and Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina), both members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to prioritize and promote the legislation’s passage as part of broader efforts to speed cancer research and improve outcomes for patients.

Excerpts from the letter:

On improving outcomes for patients:

“[W]e view this initiative as a vital opportunity to enact meaningful reforms that enhance cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment, driving better outcomes for Americans from all walks of life.”

…

“Moreover, when cancer is detected early, roughly 90 percent of cancer patients will live five years or longer.  Early detection also has robust benefits for household finances and for the economy.  According to a 2016 study surveying the cost implications of 19 different cancers, earlier detection for the cancers in question could produce annual cost savings of around $26 billion, reducing projected yearly expenses by close to one-fifth.”

On broad support for long-term, positive impacts:

“Beyond Capitol Hill, more than 315 state, local, and national groups, ranging from patient advocacy organizations and labor unions to chambers of commerce and frontline health care providers, have endorsed our proposal, recognizing its potential to save and improve lives.”

The Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act enjoys broad bipartisan and bicameral support, as well as the support of more than 315 stakeholder organizations.  The bill supports innovation in cancer diagnostic development and Medicare coverage for access to innovative tests that can detect multiple types of cancer before symptoms develop.  These new detection technologies will complement existing screenings and dramatically improve the country’s early detection capabilities for cancer. 

Bill text is available HERE.  Read the full letter HERE or below.

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Dear President Biden:

As the lead sponsors of the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act, legislation with the potential to save and improve countless lives, we write to encourage you to join us in our efforts to advance this proposal as you work to reignite your administration’s Cancer Moonshot. We appreciate your decision to make fighting cancer a presidential priority, and we view this initiative as a vital opportunity to enact meaningful reforms that enhance cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment, driving better outcomes for Americans from all walks of life. Our legislation reflects a broadly bipartisan and bicameral response to your call to action for cancer screening and early detection. With your support, we feel confident that we can swiftly deliver this bill to your desk. 

Your prioritization of the Cancer Moonshot initiative comes at a crucial time, as experts expect cancer to become the leading cause of death in the U.S. within the next decade. In 2022 alone, we will likely see more than 1.9 million new cancer cases and more than 609,000 cancer deaths across the nation. While advances in screening and treatment technologies, among other factors, have led to a decline in the cancer fatality rate in recent decades, roughly 70 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S. occur in conditions with no recommended screening options.

Fortunately, key breakthroughs in screening technologies hold tremendous promise in enhancing health outcomes and driving down costs for patients and families. Researchers have found that detecting cancer at an early stage can lead to survival rates roughly five to ten times greater than for late-stage detection. Moreover, when cancer is detected early, roughly 90 percent of cancer patients will live five years or longer. Early detection also has robust benefits for household finances and for the economy. According to a 2016 study surveying the cost implications of 19 different cancers, earlier detection for the cancers in question could produce annual cost savings of around $26 billion, reducing projected yearly expenses by close to one-fifth.

Multi-cancer early detection (MCED) testing technologies could revolutionize the screening landscape, using rigorous research and cutting-edge scientific developments to detect as many as dozens of different cancer types, often long before symptoms even emerge. Once developed, approved, and brought to market, these tests could boost the cancer survival rate, expand and enhance treatment options, and reduce health care costs.

The Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act would take a decisive step towards Medicare coverage of these technologies by authorizing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to use an evidence-based process to cover FDA-approved MCED tests. Without in any way compromising FDA’s review and approval processes or CMS’s administrative discretion, this legislation would afford Medicare beneficiaries access to proven screening tools. By passing this bill, Congress would build on a legacy of bipartisan action, having previously enacted laws codifying Medicare coverage pathways for a number of critical cancer screening technologies, from pap smears and mammograms to prostate and colorectal cancer screening tests. Absent Congressional approval, Medicare coverage could be delayed for years, and the vast majority of seniors, who account for three-fifths of all diagnosed cancer cases in the U.S., would struggle to access MCED test options.

As you noted in your recent remarks on the Cancer Moonshot initiative, few issues command more sweeping bipartisan and bicameral support than combating cancer. In a clear illustration of the broad backing that these issues enjoy, our legislation has more than 150 bipartisan cosponsors in the House, along with nearly three dozen in the Senate. Members across the political spectrum recognize the value of cutting-edge innovations in transforming the cancer screening landscape. Beyond Capitol Hill, more than 315 state, local, and national groups, ranging from patient advocacy organizations and labor unions to chambers of commerce and frontline health care providers, have endorsed our proposal, recognizing its potential to save and improve lives.

Cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years represents an ambitious and laudable goal. Achieving that benchmark will, as you noted in reigniting the Cancer Moonshot, require robust public-private partnerships, along with a wide range of policy solutions. As you look to construct a concrete and cohesive legislative agenda around this broader vision, our bipartisan legislation could play a key role in outlining a plan for enhancing cancer screening, which you have rightly prioritized. With that in mind, we respectfully request that you join us in promoting this proposal and encouraging its passage this year.

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