Clinical trials are critical to cancer research. These studies help doctors find ways to improve health and cancer care. Clinical trials are designed to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat cancer.

Unfortunately, very few adults participate in clinical trials due to a number of barriers. In 2003, there were approximately 1,700 ongoing clinical trials, of which the National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored 1,200. Despite this large number of trials, only 3 percent of adult patients participated, while 20 percent were eligible. The participation rate for children is much higher. About 55 to 65 percent of children diagnosed with cancer by or before age 14 enter an NCI-sponsored clinical trial.

One way to improve the rate of participation by adults is to require insurance companies to pay the cost of routine medical care participants receive in a clinical trial. Some health plans do not cover these costs, including doctor visits, hospital stays and lab tests. This is a significant barrier to participation.

More than half of the states in the U.S. have passed laws to require health plans to cover these routine costs. Fortunately, there is an effort in the Senate to ensure that these costs are covered for all Americans.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) have joined to offer an amendment to the Senate health care reform bill that would prohibit insurers from dropping coverage because an individual chooses to participate in a clinical trial and from denying coverage for routine care that they would otherwise provide just because an individual is enrolled in a clinical trial.

This amendment would apply to all insurance products, including those offered in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and to all clinical trials that treat cancer or other life-threatening diseases. States that go above and beyond the federal standard laid out in the amendment would not be preempted.

We appreciate Senators Brown and Hutchison for their leadership in offering this amendment. Please contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor Amendment #2871 – the Brown-Hutchison clinical trials amendment. You can call, email and tweet your elected officials. You can sign up for a twitter service called 2gov.org to auto tweet all your elected officials. Go to http://2gov.org to get started.

With hundreds of amendments competing for time on the Senate floor, we will increase the likelihood that this amendment will be considered if we can show support through co-sponsorships.

For more information about clinical trials or to find out if you are eligible for a clinical trial, contact our LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare program at 1-866-673-7205.