As the coronavirus swept across the country this spring, everyone learned more than we expected to know about how the immune system works. It does an amazing job of surrounding invaders and removing them from the body. (If only our brains could do the same with ideas like the Green New Deal or Political Correctness.)
Most Americans have taken a crash course to prevent the spread of the virus. They have learned about how the virus impacts the lungs and overwhelms the immune system. Just as doctors are scrambling to find a quick fix to prevent the spread and help people with the virus, the same research and development is happening to fight an illness that takes well over a half million American’s lives every year - cancer.
The workings of the immune system to fight viruses and cancer are no mystery to cancer specialists. For decades, scientists have been trying to harness the power of the immune system and use it to attack cancer cells. The problem is that since cancer cells are our own cells that have stopped functioning normally, it has been challenging to get the immune system to recognize that the cancer is an invader.
But that is changing, with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells therapy.
CAR-T therapy harnesses the power of a patient’s white blood cells and teaches them to fight cancer. It’s a breakthrough that differs significantly from the usual methods: poisoning the cancer (and the patient) with chemotherapy or cutting the cancer (and some healthy cells) out of the patient through surgery. This therapy can make life better for cancer patients. It can deliver healing that would have been considered miraculous just a decade ago. But only if patients have access to it.
In March, Tom Coburn, a doctor, former senator and cancer patient (tragically, he lost his own battle with cancer on March 28) explained that CAR-T therapy is rare in many places because it’s too expensive. “The current doctor and hospital reimbursement process for CAR-T Medicare patients is broken,” he wrote for The Oklahoman on March 3. “These inadequate reimbursements create not only access barriers for patients, but also a disparity between commercial and Medicare cancer patients, and between patients from urban and rural areas.”
Coburn was a fiscal conservative who devoted his career to rooting out government waste. His annual “Wastebook” detailed ineffective and frivolous federal spending. So, when he calls for Washington to invest more money in a project, you know that project is worthwhile. He realized the importance of CAR-T therapy and wanted to see it made available to more Americans more quickly.
But he noted that many Americans, especially in rural areas, were being denied the opportunity to use this therapy. “We need a long-term solution that more appropriately reimburses the providers of these innovative treatments, which will, in turn, provide better access for appropriate seniors on Medicare with cancer,” he wrote. Coburn added that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have the ability to close the funding gap.
President Donald Trump has vowed to improve Medicare. He has focused on reducing regulations and making successful therapies available to seniors. That’s been a great benefit for older Americans. But those who are suffering from cancer need even more help, and they need it right away.
“CMS and the Administration have proven that they value providing broad coverage of CAR-T therapies for Medicare’s seniors. They should continue to support these principles by fixing the CAR-T reimbursement system,” Coburn added. That will require investing more money in the program in various states. However, the payoff will be well worth it in lives saved and improved. Under President Trump, the government might finally take the steps it has long promised and win the national war on cancer.
The Trump Administration must soon decide whether to improve Medicare by increasing reimbursement rates to make the therapy available to more seniors in more states. While fighting the coronavirus, it has seen the importance of proper medical care. Now it can apply the same principles to beating back cancer. There’s simply no reason to hold off on delivering this successful cancer treatment to all seniors. The Administration should act now to fund CAR-T therapy and save lives.
Tim Tapp
Most Americans have taken a crash course to prevent the spread of the virus. They have learned about how the virus impacts the lungs and overwhelms the immune system. Just as doctors are scrambling to find a quick fix to prevent the spread and help people with the virus, the same research and development is happening to fight an illness that takes well over a half million American’s lives every year - cancer.
The workings of the immune system to fight viruses and cancer are no mystery to cancer specialists. For decades, scientists have been trying to harness the power of the immune system and use it to attack cancer cells. The problem is that since cancer cells are our own cells that have stopped functioning normally, it has been challenging to get the immune system to recognize that the cancer is an invader.
But that is changing, with Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells therapy.
CAR-T therapy harnesses the power of a patient’s white blood cells and teaches them to fight cancer. It’s a breakthrough that differs significantly from the usual methods: poisoning the cancer (and the patient) with chemotherapy or cutting the cancer (and some healthy cells) out of the patient through surgery. This therapy can make life better for cancer patients. It can deliver healing that would have been considered miraculous just a decade ago. But only if patients have access to it.
In March, Tom Coburn, a doctor, former senator and cancer patient (tragically, he lost his own battle with cancer on March 28) explained that CAR-T therapy is rare in many places because it’s too expensive. “The current doctor and hospital reimbursement process for CAR-T Medicare patients is broken,” he wrote for The Oklahoman on March 3. “These inadequate reimbursements create not only access barriers for patients, but also a disparity between commercial and Medicare cancer patients, and between patients from urban and rural areas.”
Coburn was a fiscal conservative who devoted his career to rooting out government waste. His annual “Wastebook” detailed ineffective and frivolous federal spending. So, when he calls for Washington to invest more money in a project, you know that project is worthwhile. He realized the importance of CAR-T therapy and wanted to see it made available to more Americans more quickly.
But he noted that many Americans, especially in rural areas, were being denied the opportunity to use this therapy. “We need a long-term solution that more appropriately reimburses the providers of these innovative treatments, which will, in turn, provide better access for appropriate seniors on Medicare with cancer,” he wrote. Coburn added that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have the ability to close the funding gap.
President Donald Trump has vowed to improve Medicare. He has focused on reducing regulations and making successful therapies available to seniors. That’s been a great benefit for older Americans. But those who are suffering from cancer need even more help, and they need it right away.
“CMS and the Administration have proven that they value providing broad coverage of CAR-T therapies for Medicare’s seniors. They should continue to support these principles by fixing the CAR-T reimbursement system,” Coburn added. That will require investing more money in the program in various states. However, the payoff will be well worth it in lives saved and improved. Under President Trump, the government might finally take the steps it has long promised and win the national war on cancer.
The Trump Administration must soon decide whether to improve Medicare by increasing reimbursement rates to make the therapy available to more seniors in more states. While fighting the coronavirus, it has seen the importance of proper medical care. Now it can apply the same principles to beating back cancer. There’s simply no reason to hold off on delivering this successful cancer treatment to all seniors. The Administration should act now to fund CAR-T therapy and save lives.
Tim Tapp
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