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Routine care during a cancer clinical trialA patient enrolls in an approved clinical trial of a new cancer drug. The trial sponsor supplies the drug. He still needs doctor visits, blood tests and scans along the way.
Does his health plan pay for those visits, tests and scans?
Correct. Not quite. Many patients assume joining a trial means giving up their insurance. Since 2014, most health plans may not refuse to cover the routine costs of care for a patient in an approved clinical trial for cancer or another life-threatening condition. Routine costs are the things the plan would pay for anyway, such as visits, lab work and imaging. The plan does not have to pay for the experimental treatment itself, and network rules can still apply.
More: You Found the Right Specialist. So Why Could Your Insurance Still Say No?