Robin Kirk
Because Harris gets that having smart health care policy saves lives
Genetic testing prompted by a family cancer diagnosis revealed that my children carry the BRCA2 gene. BRCA stands for “breast cancer.” This tumor-suppressing mutation means that their bodies are less effective in preventing tumor growth.
My daughter must now plan for a sharply elevated risk of breast and pancreatic cancer. For my son, this includes prostate cancer. According to studies, up to 10 percent of all cancers may be linked to inherited genes.
My daughter, a public high school teacher, followed her physician’s advice and scheduled twice-yearly mammograms. One scan revealed a shadow. The biopsy was negative, and we breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the bills started pouring in. Donald J. Trump’s “concepts of a plan”—his shockingly vapid answer to a debate question on health care—put in stark contrast one of the crucial differences between the two presidential candidates.
One—Kamala Harris—has thought deeply and with personal experience about people like my children. The other couldn’t buy a clue with crypto.
What was once science fiction is now everyday medicine. Advances in science mean that we not only learn about what’s happening in our bodies now, but we also find out about risks as we age due to the genes we inherit. Despite her high-risk status—and in opposition to the medical recommendations of specialists—the clinic’s coding office didn’t categorize her care as “preventative.” Instead, since she had a biopsy, the code was “diagnostic.”
That distinction is crucial. The insurance most Americans have only covers a fraction of “diagnostic” procedures. The difference is many, many thousands of dollars.
Yes, you read that correctly. A clear scan is covered. But if scans reveal something, even something harmless, the out-of-pocket cost falls almost entirely on the patient. On a public teacher’s salary, this translates into quick financial ruin.
This is a familiar catastrophe for high-risk patients and is especially harmful to Black and Hispanic patients, who tend to be screened at a later and more dangerous stage. Only a year into learning her BRCA2 status, my daughter began canceling appointments because of the projected cost.
Yes, scans are expensive. But those bills don’t even approach what advanced cancer treatment costs.
Luckily, there is a fix that Democrats like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro are implementing.
In 2023, Shapiro signed into law a bill that requires state-regulated insurance to cover all preventative tests for high-risk residents. Before reaching the governor’s desk, the bill won unanimous, bipartisan support in the state legislature.
This is exactly the kind of legislation President Harris would champion. It’s more than a “concept.” It’s a real, smart policy that will save lives.
Robin Kirk serves as faculty cochair of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute. She is also the author of The Bond, The Hive Queen, and The Mother’s Wheel (2022), an award-winning fantasy trilogy.