Oregon committee clears bill to eliminate costs for cervical cancer screenings

A bill in the Oregon Legislature would eliminate out-of-pocket costs for cervical cancer screenings and procedures for Oregonians. 

Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, presented Senate Bill 1527 to the Senate Health Care committee Wednesday afternoon, sharing her story of going through four rounds of radiation treatment after being diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer in November. 

Hartman will soon be forced into menopause after undergoing the treatment. While she is 37 and doesn’t plan on having more children, she said many women her age and younger won’t have a choice to start or grow their family because of cervical cancer.

“This was all preventable,” she said. “If we continue to have proper screening and if it is being requested by qualified doctors to continue with diagnostics, then we should be covering that and not leaving it up to insurance companies to decide whether or not this is something they should cover.”

The bill is modeled after a similar 2023 law that prevents insurance plans from imposing out-of-pocket costs for medically necessary diagnostic or supplemental breast examinations.

Representatives from the American Cancer Society and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists testified in support of the bill. 

The committee unanimously voted to advance the bill to the Senate floor with a recommendation that it pass.