Eye On Illinois: Bipartisan push behind effort to expand cancer screening mandates

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and if the insurance companies don’t see it that way, lawmakers might force their hands.

At the risk of grossly oversimplifying an endlessly complex health care system, the motivation behind Senate Bill 2967 seems to be putting the public’s best interest over that of their coverage providers.

As Capitol News Illinois explained, current state law stipulates policies must cover genetic testing for ovarian and breast cancers, alongside annual skin, colon, pancreatic and prostate cancer screenings for people with doctor recommendations or family histories. But SB 2697 would expand that law by mandating coverage for susceptibility and prevention screening, including genetic testing, for all cancer types for anyone with a family history. Private insurers could charge no more than $50 to policyholders while Medicaid patients would have no out-of-pocket cost.

State Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, sponsors the bill, which passed the Senate 59-0 Wednesday. State Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, became the chief House sponsor Thursday.

While the medical community and its investor class continue determining the best ways to treat many types of cancer, more people each day receive life-altering diagnoses. Even standard screenings like colonoscopies are central to public awareness campaigns urging people to undergo preventive testing. Addressing the likelihood cost is a hurdle to such screenings makes sense, because the expense of treating full-blown disease has far wider implications.

Quite obviously, no law can cure cancer. But this idea has bipartisan momentum needed to pass and the potential to change lives.

MATH CHECK: In February, Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans to repeal the state’s 1% tax on grocery items. The state disburses every penny to local governments, and although municipalities could enact their own grocery taxes, some officials prefer framing the proposal as a local budget cut to expending political capital needed to make up the difference.

In prior writing, I parroted reporting indicating when lawmakers suspended this tax in 2023, the state paid municipalities $400 million to cover the gap. While that was true, we now know more. The March report of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (tinyurl.com/CGFAMarch) noted that in December, $148 million went back to the general revenue fund – the amount left once the state made all the locals whole.

That means the actual cost of a 12-month tax suspension was $252 million. With 12.5 million Illinoisans, that’s $20.16 per person – almost 39 cents per week. It was already paltry at $400 million (62 cents per week) but the clarity only reinforces two key points: One, the grocery tax is most felt by low-income spenders (provided they earn enough to avoid food stamps); and two, the resistance to change is more about perception than budgetary impact.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.