RALEIGH – House Bill 206, NC Cancer Treatment Fairness, requires that all health insurance plans that provide coverage for “intravenously administered or injected anticancer drugs” must also provide equal coverage for orally-administered anticancer drugs. The House approved the measure 90-22 on Monday.
In short, this is another government-mandated health insurance service coverage. North Carolina already imposes 57 such mandates on insurance plans sold in the state, ranking NC among the top 15 states in that category. Estimates show these mandatory coverages have caused insurance premiums to rise between 20 to 50 percent higher than they would be without the mandates.
Civitas Action opposes health insurance coverage mandates and believes consumers and providers should be free to agree on a wide selection of coverage levels that best suit the consumers’ needs, rather than government forcing consumers to pay for costly mandates they will never need.
Civitas Action will grade the House’s vote on HB 206, and fully intends to grade any Senate votes taken on the bill in its 2017 Civitas Action Conservative Effectiveness Ranking, and the grades will be updated to the website within one or two business days following the vote.
Civitas Action is a 501(c)(4) non-profit that educates and informs North Carolinians on policy issues and the actions of their elected officials.