Cancer-screening bill in Ohio Senate merits support

Ohio is now in a minority, one of 24 states that do not require insurance companies to provide routine prostate cancer screening for people 50 and older.
State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, R-Brookville, has introduced legislation to change that and to put Ohio in the forefront of states that require insurers to cover tests for colon cancer for people 50 and over. Only seven states now have such a requirement.
Guidelines: The legislation is based on guidelines recommended by the American Cancer Society, which points out that last year an estimated 130,200 Americans were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 56,300 Americans died of it. In Ohio this year, an estimated 6,500 men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and about 2,700 Ohioans will die from the disease.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cancer killer, claiming even more lives than breast cancer or prostate cancer.
Those statistics would seem to make Jacobson's legislation a no-brainer, but there is even more. Testing is cost effective -- especially in the case of colorectal cancer. If polyps are discovered when they are precancerous, treatment costs about $10,000 and the patient gets to live.
The average cost of treating fully developed colorectal cancer is $100,000, and in many cases the patient dies.
Still, Ohio's insurance industry is mobilizing against the legislation. No industry welcomes a mandate, even if the mandate may be in the best interests of both the supplier and the client. The industry seems to be concerned about having to increase premiums to cover the certain expense of providing thousands of additional tests. It seems less persuaded that early detection will result in equal or greater savings for the treatment that patients will require for precancerous or early-onset treatment.
Life-saving measure: But even if the cost numbers don't even out, lives will be saved. And that should be the most important part of the equation.
Senate Bill 50 recognizes that, and it deserves the support of the General Assembly and the governor's office.
But Ohioans shouldn't count on the General Assembly or their insurance carriers for everything. The most important things they can do is watch their diets, avoid smoking and get regular check-ups, whether an insurance carrier pays the full tab or not.
A pound of testing and a ton of treatment are not worth an ounce of prevention.