I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 238 
To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to require group 
health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual 
health insurance coverage to provide benefits for lung cancer screenings 
for certain individuals without the imposition of cost sharing. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 11, 2021 
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. DESAULNIER, and 
Mr. LOWENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act 
to require group health plans and health insurance 
issuers offering group or individual health insurance cov-
erage to provide benefits for lung cancer screenings for 
certain individuals without the imposition of cost sharing. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Katherine’s Lung Can-
cer Early Detection and Survival Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Lung cancer is the number 1 killer of all 
cancers. 
(2) Lung cancer causes more deaths than pros-
tate cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer 
combined. 
(3) The reason for the extremely low 5-year 
survival rate in lung cancer patients is the difficulty 
to find it at early stages (as patients have no symp-
toms at early stages). 
(4) For all stages of lung cancer, the overall 5- 
year survival rate is 19 percent, while such rate is 
98 percent for prostate cancer and 90 percent for 
breast cancer (all stages). 
(5) Early detection of lung cancer through 
screening could dramatically increase survival rates 
for patients. 
(6) Current law mandates free screening for 
breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer 
at much earlier ages than for lung cancer, regardless 
of preexisting conditions of the individual to be 
screened. 
(7) Free screening starts at age 40 for breast 
cancer but for lung cancer does not start until age 
55, and then and only for those with a history of 
smoking thirty or more packs of cigarettes per year. 
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(8) This Act would save lives and money 
through early detection of lung cancer by starting 
free screening at age 40. 
SEC. 
3. 
REQUIRING 
COVERAGE 
OF 
LUNG 
CANCER 
SCREENINGS 
FOR 
CERTAIN 
INDIVIDUALS 
WITHOUT COST SHARING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2713(a) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–13(a)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting a semicolon; 
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
(4) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para-
graph (6); and 
(5) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) with respect to individuals 40 years of age 
or older, lung cancer screenings, regardless of the 
smoking history (if any) of such an individual.’’. 
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(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to plan years begin-
ning on or after January 1, 2022. 
Æ 
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