Colorado Lawmakers Debate Funding For Cancer Treatment

To determine how to fund cancer treatments for uninsured women under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Act of 2000, Colorado's Legislature will hold a special session on Sept. 20, the Denver Post reports. While the federal government will pay about $67 for every $33 raised by the state for treatment, state lawmakers are "deeply divided" on how to appropriate funds for the program, which has "broad-based public support" (Martinez, Denver Post, 9/18). Under the law, the government will cover the costs of any surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, follow-up care and medication for patients whose disease is identified through a free screening program operated by the CDC. Uninsured patients with incomes up to 250% of the federal poverty level will be eligible for treatment for the two cancers through Medicaid (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/5).

Use Tobacco Settlement Funds...
Gov. Bill Owens (R) has proposed using funds from the tobacco settlement, but his plan has been criticized for "unfairly pitting treatment against prevention." The state's tobacco fund receives up to $15 million annually from a national settlement. Payments are tied to tobacco sales and could be reduced if sales decrease. Last year the state received $11.5 million in tobacco settlement funds. Owens spokesperson Dick Wadhams said "unspent" tobacco settlement funds would provide "steady and consistent funding" for cancer treatment. Antitobbaco activists, however, are opposed to the plan. Janet Fox Stephens, legislative liaison for the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance, said, "We feel the money should stay in the tobacco prevention, education and cessation fund."

or General Revenue?
To fund the treatment programs, state Rep. Gayle Berry (R) and state Sen. Peggy Reeves (D) have proposed using "unspent taxpayer money," which normally is "recycled" into the budget for the following year. This year, there is about $10 million left over and the proposal would appropriate $610,000 of that in the first year. The amount would then be "slowly increase[d]" in the following years. In calling Owen's plan "fiscally irresponsible," Berry said, "I have concern with funding a Medicaid entitlement out of a limited cash fund, which is what the tobacco settlement fund is. We want to make the case that our approach is more fiscally responsible" (Denver Post, 9/18).