{"id":2312,"date":"2016-03-15T03:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T08:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2016-03-14T16:15:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T21:15:08","slug":"cancer-treatment-fairness-act-pushed-at-tennessee-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/15\/cancer-treatment-fairness-act-pushed-at-tennessee-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Treatment Fairness Act Pushed at Tennessee Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2313\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2313\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2313\" src=\"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/iStock_000059752964_Small-250x150.jpg\" alt=\"Fighting For Fair Cancer Treatment\" width=\"200\" height=\"165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/iStock_000059752964_Small-350x289.jpg 350w, https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/iStock_000059752964_Small.jpg 763w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2313\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fighting For Fair Cancer Treatment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While researchers continue to make progress with improvements in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.issels.com\/newissels\/\">cancer treatments<\/a>, it&#8217;s often financially prohibitive for patients to make use of them. This past January, Tennessee took a step toward joining 40 other states and the District of Columbia in making it easier for patients to get the most appropriate treatment available.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Bill Ketron and Representative William Lamberth jointly introduced the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.senatorbillketron.com\/2016\/01\/legislation-introduced-to-help-cancer-patients-in-tennessee\/\">Cancer Treatment Fairness Act<\/a> in the state Senate and House. If passed, the legislation would equalize costs between traditional and newer cancer treatments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The changing form of cancer treatments<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Traditional treatments, which are usually administered via IV or injection, generally fall under regular health care benefits. As a result, patients are charged nominal co-pay or nothing at all.<\/p>\n<p>Newer treatments, such as\u00a0gene-targeted therapies, block the growth and spread of cancerous cells by interfering with specific molecules needed for tumor growth and progression.\u00a0They also\u00a0have the\u00a0benefit of fewer side effects. Since they come in pill form, they are placed under a health care plan&#8217;s pharmacy coverage. The high out-of-pocket costs can force patients to discontinue treatment, even if it&#8217;s effective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why the Fairness Act is needed now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Access to oral medications will become even more important, as more than 25 percent of treatments in the works are in pill form. In addition to lower health care costs, oral cancer treatments have been shown to have a positive effect on patients&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/08\/cancer-patient-tip-focus-on-improving-your-quality-of-life\/\">quality of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Issels\u00ae has long been a leader in the use of integrative immunotherapy treatments to stimulate the body&#8217;s natural immune response. <a href=\"http:\/\/issels.com\/questionnaire\/request-issels-info.aspx\">Contact us<\/a> for more information about our special testing methods and innovative personalized therapies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While researchers continue to make progress with improvements in cancer treatments, it&#8217;s often financially prohibitive for patients to make use of them. This past January, Tennessee took a step toward joining 40 other states and the District of Columbia in making it easier for patients to get the most appropriate treatment available. Senator Bill Ketron &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/15\/cancer-treatment-fairness-act-pushed-at-tennessee-legislature\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Cancer Treatment Fairness Act Pushed at Tennessee Legislature<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,201,480,204],"tags":[224,259],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alternative-cancer-treatment","category-cancer-care-tips","category-cancer-caregivers","category-living-with-cancer","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-fighting-cancer"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2314,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions\/2314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/issels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}