The bill promoted “Cancer Treatment Fairness Act.” The act required that insurance policies and health maintenance contracts that covered medications on cancer treatments to grant coverage for cancer treatment prescriptions that were given orally. The medical cover provided for oral cancer medications should be similar to the one that covers medications for IV cancer treatment. Grandfathered health plans and requirement for cost-sharing were excluded from the Act. Insurers, HMOs and some entities were forbidden from participating in some actions, through which they would avoid conformity with the Act¹.

Florida House Bill 301 was sponsored by Mayfield and Nunez, with many other co-sponsors. Employers are prohibited from denying health insurance to cancer patients by ADA². In cases where insurers fail to pay for treatment as per the policy, they are sued. Some policies do not include diagnoses like cancer. Medicare, for example, fails to cover treatment for a diagnosis of flat foot³. In the first regular session of 2010, the bill failed.It died in the Councils of Education and Economic Development. In 2011, it was suspended and removed from consideration. In the following regular sessions of 2012, 2013 and 2014, it failed after it was presented to the senate. The Department of Health, Florida, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are some of the stakeholders of the Cancer Treatment bill, among others.

1. Waun Hong, American Association for Cancer Research andWilliamHait,Holland-Frei Cancer medicine 8^th edition (Shelton: PMPH-USA Limited, 2010), 1942-1949.
2. Cindy Schwartz, WendyHobbie, LouisConstine and KathleenRuccione,Survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer: A multidisciplinary approach (New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2006), 314-318.
3. CatherineCochran,Handling the medical claim: An 8-step guide on “how to” correct and resolve claim issues. (Florida: CRC Press, 2012), 84-91.

Provision of standard care to cancer patients by oncologists would be an alternative to thishealth care is increased, and the government gets the burden of compensating for the care. The oncologists should follow up the plan for standard care, and reevaluate the outcomes⁴.

Cancer clients and their families should be educated on what to expect during treatment for cancer and what to consider in a medical cover in order to ensure they are well covered. They should also be enlightened about requesting cancer care that meets the standards of psychosocial care when they realize that they are not receiving quality care from oncologists. The knowledge will lead to the improvement of care from oncology nurses once they realize that their patients are quiet informed.

4. Waun Hong, American Association for Cancer Research and William Hait, Holland-Frei Cancer medicine, 8th edition (Shelton: PMPH-USA Limited, 2010), 1945.

Bibliography

Cochran Catherine. Handling the medical claim: An 8-step guide on “how to” correct and resolve claim issues. Florida: CRC Press, 2012.

Hong Waun, American Association for Cancer Research, & Hait William. Holland-Frei Cancer medicine, 8th edition.Shelton:PMPH-USA Limited, 2010.

Schwartz Cindy,Hobbie Wendy, Constine Louis, & Ruccione Kathleen.Survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer: A multidisciplinary approach.New York: Springer Science& Business Media, 2006.