Wisconsin Assembly Republicans Torpedoing Chemo Bill

Update II: Did cancer, outraged people and journalism make the GOP act in people's interest over special interest? It's possible. Quorum Call reports, "The Assembly's oral chemotherapy bill has passed, on a 75-18 vote, with a voting pair. It will now head back to the Senate for concurrence before it can head to the governor's desk." Jason Stein at MJS, writes, "One day after Gov. Scott Walker called on the state Assembly to pass as written a bipartisan bill to help cancer patients afford chemotherapy pills, Republicans early Friday scaled back the measure to cap co-payments for the drugs at $100 per month."

The Assembly adopted changes to the measure late Thursday on mostly party lines and then passed the bill around 1:30 a.m. Friday by a bipartisan 75-18 vote."
Update: Assembly GOP to pass scaled-back chemotherapy bill

Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (Rochester) could take 45 seconds to talk and the Assembly could vote on Senate Bill 300 that has bi-partisan majority support.

Cancer victims would then be guaranteed that health insurance plans include chemo pills for cancer victims.

Instead, Quorum Call reports, Republicans are tacking on amendments, composing a slightly different bill than Senate Bill 300 (passed 30-2 earlier this week) and Assembly Bill 392, to thwart passage this year.

Scott Walker has actually joked about the Chemo Pill bill, and the Republican legislators are playing games with the bill.

Yeah, cancer sure is funny, and so are people's lives.

The Chemo Pill and the Badger Game

Update: Now that Assembly Bill 19—impeding veterans and others getting compensation for asbestos exposure causing Mesothelioma cancer—has passed on a party-line vote, Scott Walker has a decision to sign or not sign.

Walker's latest position on shafting veterans is that legal advocates for veterans need to be blocked from helping veterans.

Who knows when Walker will sign this deplorable insult to the people who fight bullshit wars, and who serve our country only to come home and get the shaft from the Republican Party.

Walker told reporters this week, he didn't know what was in the Mesothelioma cancer either.
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As Scott Walker offers his latest position on Senate Bill 300, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) still won't guarantee an up-or-down vote on the popular bill helping cancer victims obtain chemo pills as they would chemo IV treatments.

Walker has been all over the map on the bill, cracking jokes to reporters as late as Monday that he didn't know what was in the pill guaranteeing health insurance plans include chemo pills for cancer victims.

And the worse thing that can happen to politicians like Wisconsin Republicans happened: People paid attention to their elected representative selling them out to the health insurance industry.

Here's Walker latest position, a step up from cracking jokes:

"I think it makes sense," Walker said of the bill. "You look at the vote total to pass what the Senate had, if they're going to make any modifications my hope would be that if they did something like that it would be something that the Senate would be amenable to. I don't think anybody wants to go through this whole process and then have it stuck because one house passes one version and the other house doesn't agree with it."

How does Walker's taxpayer-financed health insurance plan cover cancer? I bet it offers access to oral chemo pills.

No one wishes cancer on anyone, the best treatment is a human right when cancer does strike. Republicans don't get that.

This is not a partisan editorial. So, let me note that Mary Burke, putative Democratic Party challenger to Walker for governor, hasn't done jack-shit on this issue.

Vos should hold a vote, Walker should sign the bill and everyone can watch the Badger game at 11:40 a.m in the conference room or on streaming video.
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Many Assembly Republicans still won't say where they stand:

The Journal-Sentinel sent emails and called all 99 members of the Assembly on Monday and Tuesday. All 39 Democrats said they supported it. . 

And the there's this:

Rep. Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin): "I really don't have an opinion."
Rep. Daniel LeMahieu (R-Cascade): "I'm not saying anything about oral chemo."
Rep. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville): "We're still working that out."
Rep. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green): "We'll talk about it Thursday."
Rep. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield): "I'm still discerning it."
Rep. Mary Williams (R-Medford): "Uh, I'm not going to talk to you."
Rep. Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva): "I have to take a look at it."
Rep. Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander): "I'm going to wait for caucus on Thursday."

Scott Walker: I'll Sign Oral Chemo Bill, If Unchanged

Updated - Scott Walker is changing his position on signing on the popular bill requiring health insurance plans to provide the same coverage for chemo pills as chemo taken through IVs.

Walker says if the State Assembly does not change Senate Bill 300 and Assembly Bill 392. Walker will sign the bill.

Walker could guarantee such an outcome with a simple phone call to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), telling Vos to send him the bill unchanged.

No big secret, Republicans take orders.

So, Walker is still playing games, and so is Vos, who says a vote will happen on Thursday.

Walker was caught on the record cracking to reporters two days ago saying, "I don't know enough about it" to have a position on the popular bill; then he changed his mind yesterday, saying through a spokeswoman that he was 'inclined' to sign the bill.

Now, he'll sign an unchanged bill, passed by the state senate under heavy lobbying by cancer victims and their families, led by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's coverage of the issue and cancer victim advocates.

Make now mistake, if Robin Vos kills or changes this bill in the state assembly, it's because Vos is under orders from Walker.

Even though the vast majority of the health insurance company-allied GOP caucus has taken public positions for the bill, no Republican (except for former Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center)) voiced a word of dissent when Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tried to kill the bill

Rep. Vruwink to GOP Stalling Chemo Bill: "My God, get ahold of yourselves! Go to an oncology unit"

Update: Anne Marie Frakes of the Wisconsin Coalition for Cancer Treatment Access (WCCTA) is among those cancer treatment advocates outraged at Republicans.

Capitol police will likely be on the alert, if history is a guide, because cancer survivors will be breathing, some survivors happy to be alive may even smile, sing or hold hands with loved ones.

You can be sure Wisconsin Republican legislators will be advised of survivors' presence because there is growing optimism that Scott Walker, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (608 266-9171) will come to understand that cancer does not care if you are Republican, Green, Tea Party, Independent or Democratic.

Cancer kills without discrimination.

And all the money GOP legislators take from the health insurance industry and GlaxoSmithKline will not deter cancer.
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley and Jason Stein keep up the pressure on Wisconsin Republicans who are blocking a chemo bill to treat cancer with oral pills, just like 29 states and all of Wisconsin's border states.

Report Marley and Stein:

Democrats fired back (at the GOP's Speaker Robin Vos ((R-Rochester)). Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink (D-Milladore) recalled losing her mother and brother to pancreatic cancer and recounted how her uncle had colon cancer and many women in her family had had breast cancer.

"My God, get ahold of yourselves! Go to an oncology unit and look at the families," Vruwink told Republicans.

"When I buried my brother six months ago, politics were the furthest thing from my mind."

What Vos and the Republicans are doing strikes the Wisconsin people (when they are told of what the GOP has done), almost universally as outrageous, as cancer-support groups have mobilized and pro-cancer treatment activists have displayed Assembly Speaker Robin Vos' office phone on the Net, (608) 266-9171), asking that he be phoned in an effort to persuade Vos not to kill the bill.

Even Scott Walker is taking cancer seriously now, refraining from his cracks made to Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters. Walker said, "I don't know enough about it," on Monday, referring to Senate Bill 300 and Assembly Bill 392.

Changing his tune in less than 24 hours, now, "GOP Gov. Scott Walker hadn't taken a firm position on the measure by late Tuesday, though his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said Walker would likely be 'inclined' to sign it if the Assembly backs the measure by as wide a margin as the Senate did," Marley and Stein report.

Does this mean that Walker found out what was in the bill?

Maybe someone did tell Scott Walker that cancer is not funny.

Callow and asinine, Scott Walker better start praying on this one.

Wisconsin Senate Bows to Pressure, Votes 30-2 on Chemo Bill

Update: Assembly Speaker Vos' office says the body will hold a vote on Thursday, and that the caucus will "hold a discussion." Vos' office refused to rule out the GOP-ruled Assembly attaching amendments that would kill the bill. Vos'  office can be reached at:  (608) 266-9171.

"The state Senate overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to help curb costs for cancer patients taking chemotherapy pills and the Assembly speaker said his house would consider the bill Thursday — perhaps with changes that could kill the measure," the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting.

The Senate's Republican majority leader, Scott Fitzgerald, had been blocking the bill, changing his public explanations.

Scott Walker was caught on the record cracking to reporters, "I don't know enough about it" to have a position on the popular bill, Senate Bill 300 and Assembly Bill 392.

Republicans hold a narrow 18-15 advantage in the senate, and killing a bill that helps cancer victims is a tough sell in an election year.

Still the gerrymandered Assembly may try to make changes, effectively killing the bill.

Meanwhile Democratic senators blasted Scott Walker for his cracks about the bill:

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

Walker is "apparently the only person in this state who doesn't understand the plight of cancer victims," said Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar).

"Thirty-to-two ought to tell him he should support the bill."

Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said it was "scary" that Walker wouldn't say how he feels about the bill. "It's not a confusing bill by any means," he said.

What I can report is that without the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's virtual crusade on SB 300, the bill would already be dead.

Scott Walker Jokes about Chemo Bill: "I don't know enough about it"

Updated - Incredibly, Scott Walker is joking about a bill that would help cancer patients afford chemotherapy pills, blocked by his Republican colleagues in the Wisconsin State Senate and State Assembly.

"Gov. Scott Walker won't say if he supports the bill, but he told reporters during stops Monday in Milwaukee and Janesville that he would not be surprised to see the Legislature vote on the bill this week," report Marley, Stein and Schultze in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel this morning.

"I don't know enough about it," Walker said.

Walker used similar language about AB 19, a bill injuring those already suffering from "asbestos exposure -- many of whom are veterans. Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said many veterans affected by asbestos would simply like to have their day in court before they pass away," as noted by Quorum Call.

Walker said, "I haven't looked at the particulars of the bill, but as I understand it, it's really about keeping trial attorneys from double dipping," Walker said Monday. (Scott Bauer. AP)

Walker has pushed through anti-trial attorney bills before because trial attorneys are consumers' advocates against corporations and the insurance industry, and contribute heavily to the Democratic Party.

Rewarding his heavy contributors and using public policy in an attempt to disable his political opponents is the hallmark of Scott Walker.

Again, Walker makes light of cancer, this time Mesothelioma cancer.

As Gilda Radner once said of cancer before dying at age 42 of ovarian cancer, "Cancer is probably the most unfunny thing in the world ... ." (Kendall. May 21, 1989. LA Times)

Not even Gilda could make cancer funny.

Walker could move/or stop these bills with a quick cell phone call, though this would be betraying the health insurance industry that has given his campaign $ millions.

Walker's cracking that he doesn't know what his GOP colleagues put in Senate Bill 300 and Assembly Bill 392 is not funny. Ask cancer victims.

Mary Burke still won't engage on the issue to the dismay of a growing number of Wisconsin Democrats and families who have suffered from cancer.

A GOP-leaning daily is taking Burke's part, demonstrating that Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald are together "working to kill a proposal that would help cancer patients afford chemotherapy pills," though not explicitly stating this fact.

Pressure Mounts on GOP to Allow Vote on Cancer Treatment Bill

Lede Monday Morning Editorial in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Keeps Pressure on Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Scott Walker

Update II: Mary Burke still won't engage, a GOP-leaning daily is taking her part, today demonstrating that Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald are together "working to kill a proposal that would help cancer patients afford chemotherapy pills," though explicitly stating this fact.

Update - Woke up to a scathing editorial this morning in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau, Wisconsin) "taking extraordinary measures to block" Senate Bill 300, a measure requiring "oral chemotherapy drugs to be covered the same way as IV treatments."

Despite overwhelming support, Fitzgerald is blocking the measure from coming to a vote, with Scott Walker's approval.

A vote. Voting for stuff; it's what a democratic Republic is designed to do.

Who besides Fitzgerald, Scott Walker and the health insurance industry comes out in favor of blocking cancer treatment?

Walker could demand that SB 300 come to a vote, and all the Republicans would fall in line, just like they are now in not issuing a word of dissent from Fitzgerald's and the health insurance industry's decision to deny what is available in 29 other states, and all of Wisconsin's border states.

Mary Burke even issued a statement of dissent yesterday on this repulsive Republican effort, but nothing from Burke this morning.

I guess that communications thing on current events is over now. If Burke doesn't want to run for governor, she should stay in Manhattan.

For the rest of Wisconsin, virtually everyone knows someone who has died, is dying or is a survivor of cancer. Demanding treatment is the human thing to do.

Mary Burke's Campaign Will Not Ignite, Someone Get In Fast

Blame it on the Desolate One because
Wisconsin Dems Are Professionals

Scott Walker is vulnerable in his re-election bid for governor.

Walker can retail-campaign with the best of them (he reminds me of the late Hubert Humphrey in this one aspect). And tens of millions of dollars will be spent on Walker's behalf in the air war.

That's a lot of bucks for a medium-sized state in eight months, and this money will be invested on behalf of those Charles P. Pierce calls the "the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary," in his coverage, Watching Scotty Blow.

Even so, Walker is vulnerable.

But Mary Burke is not the candidate to defeat Walker, and Wisconsin Democrats are too hopelessly stuck in the yawning pit of groupthink to face or voice this fact.

Everyone needs to get on board, say the Democratic Party mavens who brought us this accelerating transformation of Wisconsin into Mississippi.

Burke campaign communications director, Joe Zepecki, employed the innovative strategy that silence is golden, unusual for a challenger with little name recognition, bound to be heavily outspent by the incumbent governor who has been running for the office for nine years.

Still time for someone, someone to get in: Barca, Vinehout, Erbenbach, Lori Compas, anybody but Burke and the campaign that can't shoot straight.

Candidates cannot circulate gubernatorial nomination papers until April 15.

Many moons ago a first-rate national political operative working as a colleague in a campaign asked me an odd question.

What are you reading, watching on TV?

"Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, 1,000s of pages of stuff, I guess," I said in a tone suggesting I thought the guy might be foolish for asking.

Put away Noam and Russell. Watch three hours of prime-time TV every week. You need to get in touch with the average voter.

Getting and staying in touch. Almost daily we hear from Scott Walker throwing out a press release, signing a law, ostensibly staying in touch with Wisconsin, though anyone sentient knows he's hiding.

In the gubernatorial race between Scott Walker and Candidate X, being in touch with voters is paramount.

As the Republicans have been pumping out the most repugnant legislation against voters, veterans, and families suffering from cancer, Mary Burke had no response. Dead air. Deadly silence. [Burke did have one statement out today on the Republicans' incredibly blocking of cancer treatment.]

Not all the money in Manhattan is going make Burke an effective candidate as she is running an historically inept campaign against this most vile of opponents.

Burke is out-of-touch with the key issues animating her would-be constituents, or she may as well be as she abstains from campaigning.

Following her first TV spot on Walker and jobs, an issue no one could screw-up, Burke's team screwed up.

Scott Walker is malicious and deceitful. But Walker is lucking out again facing the do-nothing satisfice infecting the Wisconsin Democratic Party enabling the Tea Party to inflict mayhem onto the people of our state.

This race is over unless one of Walker's many scandals explodes, another candidate gets in on a long-shot bid; or Walker goes for an early-April jog on Lake Mendota without any security.

Again, there is still time for candidates to get into the race.

As for Burke she should forget electoral politics and take up bowling or watch reruns of Under the Dome.

Outrage Grows over GOP Leader's Blocking Cancer Treatment Bill

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Bashes Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald in Sunday Page One Piece

Updated - "More than two-thirds of GOP senators and four-fifths of the state Senate now publicly support a bipartisan bill (Senate Bill 300) to help cancer patients get critical treatments, but the measure is still being blocked by the head of that house," report Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Unfortunately for Wisconsin cancer victims Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau, Wisconsin) has decided what the insurance industry wants is more important than what people suffering from cancer and their families wish.

Fitzgerald, like his fellow Republican Scott Walker, has an instinct to lie when presented with a legislative action selling out the Wisconsin people, in favor of special interests.

So, Fitzgerald has been offering a range of excuses of why he had to stop the bill "requiring oral chemotherapy drugs to be covered the same way as IV treatments," despite overwhelming support.

Fitzgerald offered the lame excuse (an outright lie) that the bill did not have the support of the GOP Senate caucus, so he had to block a vote.

Stein and Marley did a whip (head) count and "Fitzgerald dropped that reason Friday after the Journal Sentinel gave his aides a list showing that a majority of GOP senators now publicly support the bill."

This move to block chemo treatments is qualitatively different than the usual Republican obstruction and GOP pandering to special interests in return for money.

This is because cancer is a horrible affliction, and millions have suffered with family and friends who have died or are dying from cancer.

Faced with overwhelming public sentiment against Fitzgerald's scheme, even Mary Burke, the muted Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate issued a statement:

Mary Burke, said as governor she would sign the bill "as soon as it reached" her. "This should be an easy, common sense decision. Unfortunately, it seems like once again we see special interests taking precedence over the needs of the people of Wisconsin,' she said in a statement."

Way to go, Burke campaign; it speaks. Maybe Burke will issue another statement next month too.

As for Scott Walker; Walker is pretending he's not sure yet if he will sign or veto the legislation, report Stein and Marley:

Gov. Scott Walker has heard more about the chemotherapy proposal in recent days but is focused on his "worker training bill and his Blueprint for Prosperity" — the governor's $541 million tax cut bill, spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster said. He will consider the chemotherapy measure "when and if" it reaches his desk, she said.

Walker evidently has trouble focusing simultaneously on worker training, his "Blueprint for Prosperity" and the merits of denying the Wisconsin people chemo pills to save their lives.

It is likely, cancer being cancer, as Walker considers and thinks, Fitzgerald obstructs and other Republicans go along with this charade, Wisconsin will be hearing more about chemotherapy pills and why GOP politicians want to block this life-saving treatment.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's piece includes a list of all Wisconsin legislators' public position on this issue, with the email addresses and phone numbers of:

• Democrats for the bill
• Republicans for the bill
• Republicans against the bill
• Republicans who have not stated their positions

In Wisconsin

Scott Fitzgerald Still Blocking Chemo Treatment Bill in Wisconsin

A January 2014 Blood Drive for Leukemia Victims
Very Cold Outside, Very Warm and Human Inside

I'm proud to note that every year, and now twice a year, a group and I drive up to Wisconsin Rapids for a blood drive, and then have a party—in honor of a man who died from leukemia.

The guy spent a lot of time on chemo treatments like so many cancer victims; everyone he knew was in his corner.

Today, complete strangers (folks we know now) show up at his annual blood drive "just to do my part," as this one young man told me, greatest guy you want to meet, pictured at upper-right with a goofy shot of me waiting to give blood or platelets or plasma (I forgot)—what can be the lifeblood of leukemia patients.

For reasons only Republican can fully understand, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau, Wisconsin) is still blocking a "proposal would require health plans to provide the same coverage for chemotherapy drugs taken as pills as they do for chemotherapy administered through IVs," report Jason Stein and Guy Boulton of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in a must-read piece.

Cancer survivor Jim Logan of Glendale can't believe the bill isn't passing. "Whether it's IV or a pill, it's chemotherapy," he said. "There shouldn't even be a question about it."

It's corruption and the sociopathic greed of Wisconsin Republicans. Except for a handful of GOP legislators standing up to the health insurance industry, every one of these cowards should be booted out of office.

I despise Republicans, and I can't believe this bill is being blocked either.

Cancer Patients' Treatment Blocked by Wisconsin GOP Leader

Sen. Scott Fitzgerald - R-Clyman, WI

Not One Word of Protest from Wisconsin Republicans - or Mary Burke Yet ...

Think Wisconsin Republicans are not run by special interests?

Taking their orders from the Health Insurance industry, Wisconsin Republicans are killing a bill that mandates treating cancer victims with an affordable chemotherapy drug, until and if public outrage forces the Republicans' hand.

Cancer treatment. This is what Wisconsin Republicans are killing, even though the legislation has the support of the majority of the legislature.

A "broad array of cancer support and health advocacy groups" and cancer patients and their families have been pushing for this legislation (SB 300) for years.

One day after screwing over veterans suffering from Mesothelioma cancer in a nakedly corrupt vote yesterday, Republicans and Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald "employed an unusual gambit Wednesday to keep his house from passing — at least for now — a bill to help cancer patients afford chemotherapy drugs." (Stein and Boulton. MJS)

No Republican legislator has issued one word of condemnation for this despicable act on Fitzgerald's part.

Scott Walker has said nothing, like:  'you unbelievable piece of human garbage, do you know anyone who has died from Leukemia?'

Not one word from Sen. Michael Ellis (R-Neenah) added as a co-author on February 6, not one word from Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) who used to be the leading sponsor.

These politicians have great health insurance for cancer treatment [paid for by Wisconsin citizens] so it's not like Wisconsin citizens need the same, right?

Fitzgerald pulled this legislation even though the bill (SB 300) has the support of the majority of the Senate.

Greg Neumann reports:

MADISON (WKOW) -- Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) says he used a procedural move to purposely block a vote on a bill that would require insurance companies to cover oral chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients, because he believed it would pass without the full support of his GOP caucus.

"The legislation is backed by a coalition of advocacy groups, such as the American Cancer Society and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as well as Columbia St. Mary's Health System, Marshfield Clinic and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The proposal is opposed by health insurers who contend it will drive up the cost of health insurance," report Stein and Boulton.

The (Senate) Report passage was recommended by the Senate Committee on Insurance and Housing in January, with Five Ayes, and ZERO Noes.

The Wisconsin Coalition for Cancer Treatment Access actually lauded the Senate Committee in January.
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Here is the text of SB 300:

2013 - 2014 LEGISLATURE

2013 Senate BILL 300

September 13, 2013 - Introduced by Senators Darling, L. Taylor, Harsdorf,
Moulton, Olsen, Petrowski, Schultz, Carpenter, Erpenbach, Hansen,
Lassa, Miller, Risser, Vinehout and Wirch, cosponsored by Representatives
Strachota, Barca, Jacque, Tittl, Thiesfeldt, Loudenbeck, Stone, Kerkman,
Schraa, Brooks, T. Larson, Pridemore, Tranel, A. Ott, Ripp, Ballweg,
Bernier, Bies, Kaufert, Knodl, Zamarripa, Hulsey, Ohnstad, Johnson,
Berceau, Kolste, Mason, Sinicki, Vruwink, Bewley, Pasch, Richards, Goyke,
Riemer, Hesselbein, Smith, Danou, Hebl, Young, Zepnick and Kahl.
Referred to Committee on Insurance and Housing.

SB300,1,4 1An Act to amend 40.51 (8), 40.51 (8m), 66.0137 (4), 120.13 (2) (g) and 185.983
2(1) (intro.); and to create 609.837 and 632.867 of the statutes; relating to:
3copayments, deductibles, or coinsurance for oral chemotherapy and injected or
4intravenous chemotherapy.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill prohibits health insurance policies, and self-insured governmental
and school district health plans, that cover injected or intravenous and oral
chemotherapy from requiring the insured to pay a higher copayment, deductible, or
coinsurance for oral chemotherapy than is required for injected or intravenous
chemotherapy, regardless of the formulation or benefit category determination by
the policy or plan. A health insurance policy or self-insured governmental or school
district health plan may not comply with that prohibition by increasing the
copayment, deductible, or coinsurance for intravenous or injected chemotherapy
that is covered under the policy or plan.

The requirements of the bill apply to individual and group health insurance
policies, including limited service health organizations, preferred provider plans,
defined network plans, and cooperative associations' health care plans; to health
care plans, including a self-insured plan, offered by the state to its employees; and
to self-insured health plans of a city, town, village, county, or school district.

---

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:

SB300,1 1Section 1. 40.51 (8) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB300,2,52 40.51 (8) Every health care coverage plan offered by the state under sub. (6)
3shall comply with ss. 631.89, 631.90, 631.93 (2), 631.95, 632.72 (2), 632.746 (1) to (8)
4and (10), 632.747, 632.748, 632.798, 632.83, 632.835, 632.85, 632.853, 632.855,
5632.867, 632.87 (3) to (6), 632.885, 632.89, 632.895 (5m) and (8) to (17), and 632.896.

SB300,2 6Section 2. 40.51 (8m) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB300,2,107 40.51 (8m) Every health care coverage plan offered by the group insurance
8board under sub. (7) shall comply with ss. 631.95, 632.746 (1) to (8) and (10), 632.747,
9632.748, 632.798, 632.83, 632.835, 632.85, 632.853, 632.855, 632.867, 632.885,
10632.89, and 632.895 (11) to (17).

SB300,3 11Section 3. 66.0137 (4) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB300,2,1712 66.0137 (4) Self-insured health plans. If a city, including a 1st class city, or
13a village provides health care benefits under its home rule power, or if a town
14provides health care benefits, to its officers and employees on a self-insured basis,
15the self-insured plan shall comply with ss. 49.493 (3) (d), 631.89, 631.90, 631.93 (2),
16632.746 (10) (a) 2. and (b) 2., 632.747 (3), 632.798, 632.85, 632.853, 632.855, 632.867,
17632.87 (4), (5), and (6), 632.885, 632.89, 632.895 (9) to (17), 632.896, and 767.513 (4).

SB300,4 18Section 4. 120.13 (2) (g) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB300,3,219 120.13 (2) (g) Every self-insured plan under par. (b) shall comply with ss.
2049.493 (3) (d), 631.89, 631.90, 631.93 (2), 632.746 (10) (a) 2. and (b) 2., 632.747 (3),

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1632.798, 632.85, 632.853, 632.855, 632.867, 632.87 (4), (5), and (6), 632.885, 632.89,
2632.895 (9) to (17), 632.896, and 767.513 (4).

SB300,5 3Section 5. 185.983 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB300,3,114 185.983 (1) (intro.) Every voluntary nonprofit health care plan operated by a
5cooperative association organized under s. 185.981 shall be exempt from chs. 600 to
6646, with the exception of ss. 601.04, 601.13, 601.31, 601.41, 601.42, 601.43, 601.44,
7601.45, 611.26, 611.67, 619.04, 623.11, 623.12, 628.34 (10), 631.17, 631.89, 631.93,
8631.95, 632.72 (2), 632.745 to 632.749, 632.775, 632.79, 632.795, 632.798, 632.85,
9632.853, 632.855, 632.867, 632.87 (2), (2m), (3), (4), (5), and (6), 632.885, 632.89,
10632.895 (5) and (8) to (17), 632.896, and 632.897 (10) and chs. 609, 620, 630, 635, 645,
11and 646, but the sponsoring association shall:

SB300,6 12Section 6. 609.837 of the statutes is created to read:

SB300,3,15 13609.837 Copayment equality for oral and injected chemotherapy.
14Limited service health organizations, preferred provider plans, and defined network
15plans are subject to s. 632.867.

SB300,7 16Section 7. 632.867 of the statutes is created to read:

SB300,3,17 17632.867 Oral and injected chemotherapy. (1) Definitions. In this section:

SB300,3,2018 (a) "Chemotherapy" means drugs and biologics that kill cancer cells directly,
19including antineoplastics, biologic response modifiers, hormone therapy, and
20monoclonal antibodies, and that are used to do any of the following:

SB300,3,2121 1. Cure a specific cancer.

SB300,3,2222 2. Control tumor growth when cure is not possible.

SB300,3,2323 3. Shrink tumors before surgery or radiation therapy.

SB300,3,2524 4. Destroy microscopic cancer cells that may be present after a tumor is
25removed by surgery to prevent a cancer recurrence.

SB300,4,1

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1(b) "Disability insurance policy" has the meaning given in s. 632.895 (1) (a).

SB300,4,22 (c) "Self-insured health plan" has the meaning given in s. 632.85 (1) (c).

SB300,4,9 3(2) Copayment, deductible, or coinsurance requirements; limitations. (a) A
4disability insurance policy that covers injected or intravenous chemotherapy and
5oral chemotherapy, or a self-insured health plan that covers injected or intravenous
6chemotherapy and oral chemotherapy, may not require a higher copayment,
7deductible, or coinsurance amount for oral chemotherapy than it requires for
8injected or intravenous chemotherapy, regardless of the formulation or benefit
9category determination by the policy or plan.

SB300,4,1310 (b) A disability insurance policy or a self-insured health plan may not comply
11with par. (a) by increasing the copayment, deductible, or coinsurance amount
12required for injected or intravenous chemotherapy that is covered under the policy
13or plan.

SB300,8 14Section 8. Initial applicability.

SB300,4,1515 (1) This act first applies to all of the following:

SB300,4,1916 (a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c), disability insurance policies
17that are issued or renewed, and governmental or school district self-insured health
18plans that are established, extended, modified, or renewed, on the effective date of
19this paragraph.

SB300,4,2220 (b) Disability insurance policies covering employees who are affected by a
21collective bargaining agreement containing provisions inconsistent with this act
22that are issued or renewed on the earlier of the following:

SB300,4,23 231. The day on which the collective bargaining agreement expires.

SB300,4,25 242. The day on which the collective bargaining agreement is extended, modified,
25or renewed.

SB300,5,4

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1(c) Governmental or school district self-insured health plans covering
2employees who are affected by a collective bargaining agreement containing
3provisions inconsistent with this act that are established, extended, modified, or
4renewed on the earlier of the following:

SB300,5,5 51. The day on which the collective bargaining agreement expires.

SB300,5,7 62. The day on which the collective bargaining agreement is extended, modified,
7or renewed.

SB300,9 8Section 9. Effective dates. This act takes effect on the day after publication,
9except as follows:

SB300,5,1110 (1) The treatment of section 632.867 (2) (a) of the statutes takes effect on the
11first day of the 7th month beginning after publication.

SB300,5,1212 (End)