Op-Ed / Ensuring Cancer Patients and Healthcare Professionals Have Health Insurance Protection

By Vin Gopal

Two of our bills to protect the right to healthcare insurance for cancer patients and newly hired hospital healthcare professionals advanced in the State Senate last week.

The Senate Commerce Committee passed our bill to require insurance plans in New Jersey, including Medicaid, to cover biomarker testing, an important innovation in cancer treatment. Biomarker testing can match a person’s specific type of cancer with the most effective treatment or enable patients to forgo ineffective treatments and eliminate their potentially harmful, life-altering side effects.

It can be life saving and life changing.

That’s why the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network has made our legislation a priority bill.

Cancer comes in many forms. Being able to match a person’s specific type of cancer with the most effective treatment can serve as a roadmap for choosing the optimal cancer therapy for individual patients. Yet many insurers in New Jersey do not cover biomarker testing, forcing some patients to decide whether to pay for it out-of-pocket or go without the testing and hope the first treatment prescribed is the right one.

This groundbreaking procedure ensures patients receive more effective treatments that carry fewer side effects. However, insurance coverage has been inconsistent, so some of our most vulnerable populations cannot access it. Our bill seeks to change that.

The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee passed the newest of the bills, which would require University Hospital at Rutgers University to provide health insurance coverage to resident and fellow physicians on their first day of employment. While performing their required residencies and fellowships, resident and fellow physicians serve on the front lines in emergency rooms. Currently, hospital policy requires them to be on the staff for 90 days before becoming eligible for coverage.

That’s just wrong. How can we ask nurses who are exposed to disease and infection all day long while treating patients to perform their duties without insurance coverage if they get sick?

The legislation calls for enrollment for health care coverage under the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) for eligible resident and fellow physicians  employed by Rutgers, including University Hospital, and their dependents, be available on the first day of employment for new hires, and on the bill’s effective date for current employees.

Delays in healthcare coverage and access to life-saving medicine can be dangerous and cause debilitating healthcare debt during emergencies. In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor signed an executive order allowing public employees to immediately enroll in the SHBP. However, they lost that ability a year later when another executive order eliminated the requirement. Our bill would restore the coverage requirement and enable newly hired medical professionals to do their job with confidence and without fear that they will not be covered if they get sick.

We also want to remind LD11 residents of several events we are sponsoring this month. Our annual Women’s History Celebration will be held March 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Parlor Gallery in Asbury Park. We also are sponsoring a celebration of Greek Independence Day on March 25 with a raising of the Greek flag at the Ocean Township Municipal Building at 9 a.m. That same evening we will celebrate the rich heritage and culture of Irish Americans at the Deal Lake Bar and Co. in Loch Arbour from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Please call our office at (732) 704-3808 to register if you plan to join us for these events.

We hope to see you there.