(7) Multi-cancer early detection tests can complement the covered early detection tests enacted by Congress and extend the benefits of early detection to more cancers and more Americans. Published data indicate that these tests can screen for many cancers at the same time, including rare cancers, with one example currently able to screen for more than 50 cancers. (6) Several innovative private and academic efforts are engaged in research, including advanced clinical trials to develop multi-cancer early detection blood-based tests. About 1,000,000 Medicare beneficiaries will be diagnosed with cancer this year, as the median age for cancer diagnosis is 66 years of age. (5) Age is the leading risk factor for cancer, placing Medicare beneficiaries at elevated risk.
According to the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, 71 percent of the 600,000 cancer deaths each year are from types of cancer without a Medicare-covered early detection test. (4) The benefits of early cancer detection to Medicare beneficiaries have been limited to five cancers. (3) Driving national strategies to broadly detect cancer earlier will help reduce pervasive health disparities since racial, ethnic, and geographic groups experience later stages of diagnosis, along with higher cancer incidence and mortality. According to peer reviewed literature, treatment of early stage cancer is half the cost of metastatic cancer.
(2) Diagnosing and treating cancer earlier often results in less invasive treatments for patients, which are also less expensive. Existing Medicare-covered early detection tests, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, have led to a substantial reduction in age-adjusted mortality. Cancers detected when still localized can be treated more effectively and have a 4 times greater survival rate compared to cancers found after metastasis has occurred. (1) Detecting cancer early, before it has spread throughout the body, saves lives.
(a) Findings.-Congress finds the following:
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