Two health care bills advance to Evers' desk Assembly passes breast cancer screening, postpartum Medicaid bills

POLITICS

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Two health care bills that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had bottled up for over a year passed Feb. 19 with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The bills - one to require health insurance to cover the cost of supplemental breast cancer screenings and another to extend the period of time that the state's Medicaid program covers postpartum care for new mothers - each had passed the Senate with near unanimous support months ago. Both will now be sent to Gov. Tony Evers, who is expected to sign them into law.

Both bills boasted notable bipartisan support across both legislative bodies but had been blocked from an Assembly floor vote by Vos. He voted for them on Feb. 19, however, which was also the day when he announced that he will not seek reelection.

Gail's Law - years in the making

On Feb. 17, more than 40 Democrats in the Assembly sent a letter to Vos urging the Rochester Republican to take up the bill to expand health insurance coverage of supplemental breast cancer screening.

"Each year, too many women die from breast cancer, and many more suffer unnecessarily because they aren't able to access vital prevention screenings," said Rep. Renuka Mayadev, D-Madison.

Assembly Bill 263 will eliminate co-pays and cost-sharing expenses for breast cancer screenings and supplemental scans needed for women with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Nearly half of all women have dense breast tissue that puts them at higher risk of developing breast cancer and often requires them to receive more than one standard annual mammogram to detect breast cancer.

Gail's Law, as the bill is often referred to, is named after Gail Zeamer, a Neenah resident and longtime advocate for policy to decrease the financial burden on women seeking breast screenings.

Zeamer, who was initially diagnosed with stage 3C breast cancer in 2016, died in 2024 after her cancer returned and spread to her brain. She was never told she had dense breast tissue.

Supplemental breast screenings, often needed for women with dense breast tissue, could have caught the small tumor that had been growing undetected for years and sparked her battle with cancer. Zeamer's family sat in the gallery of the Assembly chambers Feb. 19.

Legislative efforts to address out-of-pocket costs for these supplemental breast cancer screenings have failed to advance for at least the last three legislative sessions.

The Senate passed its version of the bill in October on a 32-1 vote. Vos had previously said he didn't feel the need to bring the bill to a vote in the Assembly since he considered the issue fixed by federal guidance. He was referring to January guidance from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration that recommends insurance cover supplemental breast cancer screening for some patients but not those considered high-risk.

Vos relented his opposition to both bills late Feb. 18, agreeing to schedule them for a floor vote after an emotional press conference in which Republicans shared stories of their own connections to breast cancer.

The next day, the Assembly discussed the bill for close to an hour before passing it on a 96-0 vote.

Needs for postpartum care don't stop at two months, doctor says

Democrats in the Legislature have been pushing for the extension of Medicaid coverage for postpartum care since 2019. In more recent years, lawmakers across the political spectrum have urged the passage of this bill.

Wisconsin remains one of only two states in the country that has not used available federal funds to extend the period after giving birth in which women on Medicaid can have their postpartum care covered.

Currently, Medicaid covers two months of care. The bill that passed the Assembly Feb. 19 will extend the period to 12 months.

"No mom and no baby should have to go without health care after giving birth," said Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison.

Advocates for the law have previously said the potential for postpartum complications does not disappear two months after birth, and that the option for mental health and medical care for a full year after giving birth will decrease rates of maternal mortality in Wisconsin.

"There's no physiologic magic writing that says that, you know, all pregnancy complications end at that point," Dr. Amy Domeyer-Klenske told the Cap Times.

The Senate passed its version of this bill in April last year on a 32-1 vote. The proposal has received support from reproductive groups across the ideological spectrum, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and anti-abortion organizations Pro-Life Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.

On Feb. 19, the Assembly passed the bill 95-1 with Two Rivers Republican Rep. Shae Sortwell the sole vote against the proposal.

Evers is expected to sign both pieces of legislation into law as early as next week.

Erin McGroarty is the health and policy reporter for the Cap Times. Erin writes about Madison and Dane County's health care industry and workforce as well as government policies affecting public health and access to care. Email story ideas and tips to [email protected]. Please consider supporting Erin's work by becoming a Cap Times member or sponsor. Sustaining local journalism in Madison depends on readers like you.