Gabrielle Russon
A bill to lift financial barriers for breast cancer exams for state employees garnered bipartisan support during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.
Sen. Lori Berman’s bill (SB 158) would waive additional copays, deductibles and other cost-sharing requirements if patients need to get follow-up appointments.
The measure, which is now headed to the Senate floor, is meant to encourage people to continue to get testing and not get bogged down by out-of-pocket costs, since a delay could be a matter of life or death.
Staff analysis warned that the state’s fiscal impact would be significant.
“The Division of State Group Insurance within the Department of Management Services estimates the bill will have an estimated fiscal impact of $3.6 million annually in increased claim costs to state health plans due to the elimination of cost sharing and a projected increase in utilization,” the analysis said.
Meanwhile, the breast cancer statistics are staggering.
“In 2025 alone, more than 23,000 Floridians will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 3,000 will die of the disease,” said Berman, who is a cancer survivor. “We as a Legislature must take measures to reduce the overall cost of the health care system, and ensuring breast cancer is detected at the earliest possible stage will be a cost and life-saving measure.”
Other lawmakers praised Berman, a Boynton Beach Democrat, for pushing the bill again after it advanced in the Senate last year but died in the House.
“I know you’ve worked on this for a long time, and I’m so happy that it’s moving,” said Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky. “As a sister survivor with you, I am so proud of how hard you’ve worked on this. It’s so important that women follow up. If they get that initial diagnosis and they don’t follow up, then what’s the point?”
Polsky called it a small but important step to eliminate the extra out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic and supplemental breast exams for state employees. “Maybe we’ll get to everyone soon,” she said.
Thursday’s vote means the bill has cleared its two assigned committees and is ready for a second reading on the floor.
Democratic Sen. Barbara Sharief, who works in the medical field and is a Family Nurse Practitioner, supported the bill Thursday.
“When you have screenings and you have preventative care, your outcomes are better,” she said.
