Contact: Patrick Dyer
(440) 360-7055
patrick.dyer@lls.org

Tallahassee, FL - Volunteers from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) were on hand today for the signing of an agreement among insurance companies operating in Florida to maintain coverage of routine patient care costs for patients enrolled in cancer clinical trials.  Thirty states and the District of Columbia now require this coverage.  Florida now becomes the fourth state to ensure this coverage through a voluntary agreement between providers, insurers and patient advocacy groups.

"All cancer patients deserve access to the groundbreaking treatments being developed in clinical trials as they fight to defeat their disease and save their lives," said John Walter, president & CEO, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, who was in attendance at the signing ceremony.  "Thanks to the strong leadership of Senator Don Gaetz and LLS's partnership with Humana, Inc.  we have increased that access for all Floridians."

For patients fighting leukemia, lymphoma and other myeloma, clinical trials are especially critical as many of the most dramatic strides in cancer treatment have been made with blood cancer patients in a clinical trial setting; chiefly among children.  Forty years ago, a blood cancer diagnosis was a near death sentence for a child.  But today, due in part to nearly 60 percent of pediatric cancer patients participating in clinical trials, the survival rate is more than 90 percent for children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of leukemia among children. 

Unfortunately, adult cancer patients do not enjoy the same statistics.  The clinical trial participation rate among adults is a mere 3 to 5 percent nationally.  A major barrier to increasing the participation rate is the potential for a patient to lose insurance coverage for routine patient care when he or she enrolls in a clinical trial - a barrier removed today in Florida with the signatures of representatives from Aetna, AvMed Health Plans, BlueCross BlueShield Florida, CIGNA, Humana, Inc, United Healthcare, Vista Healthplan Inc. and Vista Healthplan of South Florida.

"Clinical trials are the only hope that cancer patients have to find a cure for this dreaded disease," said Dick Fess, a LLS volunteer and board member.  "I truly appreciate the hard work of everyone involved in coming to this voluntary agreement so that the people of Florida can receive this state-of-the-art care."

LLS is grateful to Sen. Gaetz for his leadership, the volunteers that expressed the need for this coverage to their legislators, and its coalition partners, including Humana, Inc., the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, the American Cancer Society, the Florida Medical Association, Moffitt Cancer Center and many others, for their commitment to this issue.

You can help support our advocacy efforts by joining the LLS Advocacy Center:  Act Now - Urge Congress to Increase Access to Critical Cancer Treatments.

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