Oregon medical advocates push for 2027 legislation to cover biomarker testing

She got an MRI, but doctors told her there was nothing physically wrong and prescribed anxiety medication. Unconvinced, Scattarella saw a neurologist 18 months later who ordered another MRI and a blood biomarker test, which measures molecules in the body to detect disease. Within five days, she had an answer. 

It was Alzheimer’s disease.

Doctors quickly prescribed her a drug that helped her regain her footing. Scattarella, now 67, found a purpose in advocating for people with the disease to live their best lives, and pushing Oregon to require that insurance companies cover the biomarker test that gave her her answer, she told state lawmakers on the interim Senate healthcare committee Tuesday. 

“It’s the first step toward making them standard medical practice, just like a mammogram screening, and just as accurate,” she said. “It’s too late for me. It is not too late for all of you. You have the power to change the course of Alzheimer’s for Oregonians. Please use it.”

Oregon should follow other states’ footsteps, advocates say

Nearly half of U.S. states mandate insurance companies to cover the cost of a biomarker test, according to the American Cancer Society. 

Scattarella and medical advocates from the American Cancer Society and Alzheimer’s Association are pushing Oregon lawmakers in 2027 to join that list.

The federal Food and Drug Administration approved many  biomarker tests, which work by sampling tissue, blood or other body fluids to check for certain genes, proteins or other molecules that may be a sign of a disease or condition. 

Biomarkers can help diagnose a disease, show how likely a cancer is to progress or come back, and predict whether a certain type of treatment will work, according to Dr. Flavio Rocha, a professor and division head of surgical oncology at Oregon Health and Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute. 

Biomarker tests are the future of personalized cancer therapy, Rocha told lawmakers. Rocha, a liver and pancreatic surgeon, pointed to a study showing that pancreatic cancer patients treated with personalized therapies selected through biomarker testing can live longer. 

And in his personal life, biomarker tests helped Rocha’s mother diagnose a lung cancer that doctors previously thought was a benign tumor. The tests found that she has a rare mutation, and drugs exist to treat it. 

“She started that therapy,” Rocha told lawmakers. “We’re going on for about almost two years now, and it’s a combination of pills, so it’s not chemotherapy. It’s targeted. She feels great.” 

Rep. Hai Pham, D-Hillsboro, spoke in support of legislation in 2027 requiring that insurance companies cover biomarker testing. Pham is a cancer survivor himself, still living with leukemia but managing it with targeted treatment.

“I think it’s time for Oregon to follow those states’ footsteps,” he said. “We’re pioneers of leading by example, and it’s time that we do this for our state.”

For Scattarella, the diagnosis didn’t come as a surprise. Her father and sister had dementia, and her mother had cancer. But she didn’t have an answer until she took the biomarker test. 

Along with access to biomarker testing, Scattarella said she wants people with Alzheimer’s disease to enjoy life. 

“You can have Alzheimer’s, and you can still have a great life,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “I’m not saying how long it’ll last, but I make a point of just really treasuring it every day, every moment, and living life to the fullest. All these things we said we were going to do someday, we are now doing them all.”

She and her husband recently fulfilled their lifelong dream of visiting Egypt. They finally renovated their basement. And they’re treating their 22nd marriage anniversary as their golden anniversary. 

“As horrific as this disease is, and trust me, I’ve seen it about as bad as it can be, we can still find some good, not in the disease itself, but things that come from it,” Scattarella said.

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