Jennifer Carlson noticed a disturbing trend. Cancer patients who'd been put on cancer clinical trials at the Ohio State Medical Center were losing their insurance, making routine care and continued assistance impossible.
Carlson, the assistant vice president for external relations and advocacy at the medical center, came to the realization that this was a significant issue. In order to improve standards of care, patients must be allowed to "accrue onto trial."
Carlson said unfortunately, insurance premiums included language along the lines of, "if you are recommended to go onto an experimental therapeutic, then you in fact become uninsured."
"We felt it was taking too long when we went back to the insurers to say ‘We need to get these patients onto this trial because they're terminal and their condition can change on a dime … and the delay in this review is harming the patients," Carlson said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who became a champion for the Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act on a national level, relayed a story to the American Association for Cancer Research that explained why it was such an important piece of legislation.
To read the rest of the article, click on the source link above.

Jennifer Carlson noticed a disturbing trend. Cancer patients who'd been put on cancer clinical trials at the Ohio State Medical Center were losing their insurance, making routine care and continued assistance impossible.

Carlson, the assistant vice president for external relations and advocacy at the medical center, came to the realization that this was a significant issue. In order to improve standards of care, patients must be allowed to "accrue onto trial."

Carlson said unfortunately, insurance premiums included language along the lines of, "if you are recommended to go onto an experimental therapeutic, then you in fact become uninsured."

"We felt it was taking too long when we went back to the insurers to say ‘We need to get these patients onto this trial because they're terminal and their condition can change on a dime … and the delay in this review is harming the patients," Carlson said.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), who became a champion for the Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act on a national level, relayed a story to the American Association for Cancer Research that explained why it was such an important piece of legislation.

To read the rest of the article, click on the source link above.