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Iowa's rising cancer rate spurs multiple legislative bills
Bills include new insurance rules, appropriations and radon requirements
Feb. 7, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Feb. 7, 2024 8:14 am
Iowa legislators on both sides of the aisle are proposing bills aimed at cancer prevention in the state, largely motivated by last year’s “Cancer in Iowa” report that revealed Iowa’s second-highest — and rising — cancer incidence rate in the nation.
Reps. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, and Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, met at the Capitol when they sat next to each other during last year’s legislative session. Baeth, a practicing doctor, brought up his concerns about Iowa’s cancer rates. Wilz was impassioned to work together to codify cancer prevention, regardless of their partisan divide.
“Everybody is affected by cancer. … It’s something that's costing us life,” Wilz said. “How do we take a holistic approach to finding solutions and preventative measures?”
As of last year’s “Cancer in Iowa” report, Iowa ranks only behind Kentucky for its cancer incidence rate. It is the only state in the nation with a rising rate of cancer. This year’s soon-to-be-released report follows those trends, Baeth said.
Their bills are inspired by the Iowa Cancer Plan, a blueprint for reducing the burden of cancer in the state as penned by members of the nonprofit Iowa Cancer Consortium.
The Iowa Cancer Plan, recently revised for 2023-27, includes policy recommendations around areas like health equity, risk reduction and early detection. Several target the “usual suspects” — or, the known factors attributed to Iowa’s cancer rates, Baeth said. Those include smoking, radon exposure and obesity.
“Those are known causes of cancer, and we have evidence-based ways that we can mitigate them,” he said. “By going after these known causes of cancer themselves, we hope to be able to reduce Iowa's cancer rate.”
So far, the pair have proposed:
- House File 2169, which would restrict minors from using tanning beds and enact penalties for violations. Tanning beds expose users to ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer. A subcommittee advanced the bill.
- House File 2170, which would require new single-family or two-family residential constructions to incorporate radon mitigation methods. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. All of Iowa is considered at high risk for radon gas in homes. A subcommittee unanimously recommended passage.
- House File 2183, which would expand medical benefits to cover a broader range of cancers for retired members of municipal fire and police systems. A subcommittee unanimously recommended passage.
- House File 2282, which would appropriate $300,000 to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to support radon awareness, education and outreach efforts. At least $20,000 must be used to provide free home radon testing kits.
- House File 2283, which would appropriate $900,000 to the department to develop a plan for reducing Iowa’s obesity rate. Obesity is linked to a higher risk of getting cancer. The department must submit the plan, including policy and intervention recommendations, to the Legislature by Sept. 1, 2025.
- House File 2341, which would increase the state’s cigarette tax from 6 and eight-tenths per cigarette to 10 cents per cigarette. That would bring the taxes on a 20-piece pack of cigarettes from $1.36 to $2. Beginning July 1, the revenue from the tax would be appropriated to Iowa Health and Human Services or cancer research and prevention.
Additionally, Wilz proposed House File 2339, which would appropriate $2 million from the health department’s general fund to conduct a review of state cancer surveillance data. That review, conducted by the department and the Iowa Cancer Consortium, would be submitted to the Legislature by Sept. 1, 2025.
The groups would investigate the causes of Iowa’s rising cancer rates and recommend action steps to guide prevention. The $2 million would also help staff an employee fully dedicated to Iowa’s cancer control program.
“I hear back from a lot of Iowans who are concerned about the unknown, about what might be causing this alarming cancer crisis,” Baeth told The Gazette. “Before we jump to conclusions, I think it's really important that we invest in doing solid scientific research for us to confidently identify what those potential culprits are.”
Both Baeth and Wilz say they’re focused on building awareness — either through talking with legislative leadership or creating viral social media videos explaining the state’s cancer rates.
Their bills are spread out among legislative committees — from commerce to health and human services. The first “funnel” deadline, to winnow bills the Legislature will further consider this session, is Feb. 15.
“I'd be idealistic to think that everything we put out there is going to pass,” Wilz said. “We know it might take couple sessions, but I guess I'm still young enough to believe that we can get all this to happen.”
Other cancer-related bills
Baeth and Wilz aren’t the only Iowan legislators with cancer prevention and treatment on their mind this session. Proposals span cancer screening to insurance coverage.
House File 2157, for example, was proposed by Reps. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, David Young, R-Van Meter, and Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta. It would require Iowa insurance plans to cover biomarker testing when used to diagnose, treat, manage or monitor cancer. Biomarker testing is when labs check a patient’s tissue, blood or fluid samples for certain markers — like genes, proteins or other molecules — that signify diseases like cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
A commerce subcommittee discussed the bill Tuesday in front of a crowd of onlookers including cancer patients and survivors, lobbyists and doctors.
“Biomarker testing was like a GPS in my oncologist’s hand. He knew what medication I needed,” said a cancer survivor from around Dallas County. She was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer in 2019. “Because of that, I'm here.”
The committee unanimously recommended passage of the bill, plus an amendment expanding the legislation to cover diseases other than cancer.
Another bill, proposed by Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, during last year’s session, would require insurance to cover diagnostic breast cancer examinations. The legislation, House File 71, stayed alive into this session. A subcommittee unanimously recommended passage last week.
Rep. Josh Turek, D-Council Bluffs, last week introduced House File 2192, which enact a standing appropriation from the state’s general fund to the Board of Regents for pediatric cancer research at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The funding’s dollar amount would equal the state’s population on July 1 of each fiscal year. The state’s population was about 3.2 million in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com
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