Bipartisan US lawmakers call on Deficit Committee to reject $3 billion cut to cancer care

A US Congressional letter was sent to members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction from more than 60 bipartisan members of Congress last Friday, urging the committee to reject a proposed $3 billion cut to cancer drugs that, if enacted, according to the letter, would adversely affect cancer care in the USA.

The proposed payment cut - offered to the committee as a potential offset, or "payfor," within federal debt reduction efforts - would slash reimbursement for cancer-fighting drugs under Medicare Part B from the current rate of Average Sales Price (ASP) plus 6% to ASP plus 3%. This lower payment would equate to a $3 billion funding cut to cancer care as projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The bipartisan letter, led by Representatives Leonard Lance (Republican, New Jersey) and Bill Pascrell (Democrat, NJ), states: “Enacting cuts to ASP could also worsen an already troubling access problem, as community oncology practices are already struggling even as demand for cancer care is now starting to exceed the supply of oncologists. According to one report, in the last three and a half years alone, 199 cancer clinics have closed and 369 practices, with multiple clinic locations, are struggling financially. And it is predicted that over the next ten years there will be an oncologist shortage for one in four cancer patients, and enacting $3 billion in cancer cuts will only exacerbate this problem.”