Editor's Note: This story is part of a partnership with ProPublicaand reporters Maya Miller and Robin Fields.
If enacted, Senate Bill 738 would explicitly require insurers to cover a new generation of cancer treatments, specifying that gene therapy and immunotherapy must be covered. The change could ultimately impact many cancer patients across Michigan — but it comes too late for Forrest VanPatten, whose story was at the center of our joint investigation.
VanPatten died days later, not knowing Michigan had long required health insurers to cover cancer drugs, with a law on the books since 1989. Just this past January, Scripps News reported that the state issued an official notice reminding insurance companies that, by law, they cannot deny coverage for clinically proven treatments, “including genetic and immunotherapies.”
If his legislation passes, Sen. Irwin says any gray area in the law would disappear, as would the possibility that another cancer patient in Michigan would have to endure the rejections that Forrest VanPatten did.