What is oral parity?

Oral parity laws require that insurance companies charge the same amount for oral chemotherapy drugs as for intravenous chemotherapy drugs. Intravenous chemotherapy drugs are routinely covered as a medical benefit of a health insurance plan, whereas oral chemotherapy drugs are routinely covered by a prescription drug plan; this difference often results in a considerable difference in cost (co-pay). In many cases, oral drugs have replaced infused drugs as the only option, or the medically-preferred option. Without oral parity laws, many oral cancer drugs are cost-prohibitive.

As of 2019, 43 states and the District of Columbia had passed oral parity laws; Michigan is not one of them. Notably, these laws differ significantly from state to state.  As oral chemotherapy drugs are the future of cancer care, a federal law mandating oral parity would require that every patient has affordable access to these drugs, including patients not covered by their state’s oral parity law.

On March 13, 2019, H.R.1730 – Cancer Drug Parity Act of 2019 was introduced in the US House of Representatives, Energy and Commerce Committee, and referred to the Subcommittee on Health. The bill requires health plans that cover intravenous chemotherapy costs to provide no less favorable cost sharing for oral chemotherapy drug costs.

This legislation has strong bipartisan support of Congressional Representatives. As of January 27, 2020, there were 129 cosponsors: 62 Republicans and 67 Democrats. The list of cosponsors is available at https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1730/all-info. If your Representative is on the list of supporters, contact her/him and say Thank You! If your Representative is not on the list, contact her/him and ask her/him to sign on in support of this bill!  Find who your Representative is and how to contact her/him at https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.