Opinion/Your Turn: Early cancer detection saves lives. Medicare must cover multi-cancer blood test.

Two out of three firefighters who die in the line of duty, die of cancer. That’s right. The single most dangerous threat to firefighter health and safety is cancer due to carcinogen exposure.

Since cancer is the leading cause of occupational deaths for firefighters, screening is critical. And while there are more than 100 known types of cancer, only five types of cancer have available screening to detect it earlier. But that’s set to change.

New multi-cancer early detection technology is changing the game. These tests hold enormous potential to give patients and doctors the ability to detect dozens of cancer types with a simple blood draw. Catching cancer earlier gives us the ability to lower the cost of care, avoid invasive procedures, and most importantly improve outcomes. For many firefighters, the additional time these tests could provide would be the difference between life and death.

Now lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are working to ensure Medicare has the power to cover these blood-based cancer screenings. The Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Screening Coverage Act has been introduced with a vast swath of bipartisan co-sponsors in both the U.S. House and Senate. It has over 500 patient advocacy organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the Prevent Cancer Foundation, rallying in support of its passage this year.

While firefighters have much higher rates of cancer than the residents we serve, an estimated 43,000 Bay Staters will learn they have cancer this year. Another 12,500 will lose their fight with the disease. Cancer touches every single one of us. And we heavily rely on Medicare. 

Approximately 15 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have a cancer diagnosis. In the past, Congress has acted to allow Medicare coverage of mammograms, colonoscopies, and pap smears. These screening tests have saved untold lives and are now routine preventive care. It makes sense now to modernize the current law and establish a direct pathway for coverage for the generation most at-risk: aging adults.

Last year, the Medicare MCED Screening Coverage Act had over 300 sponsors from lawmakers of every political stripe, and the bill is on track to attract similar support this year.  

As the president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, it is my responsibility to speak up on behalf of my brothers and sisters. Fighting cancer rises to the top of our priority list and lawmakers can take steps today to make these screenings widely available. We urge Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and our entire congressional delegation to stand beside us and pass the bill this year. 

Firefighters know the risk of the job, we know the risk of cancer, and we still serve each day because it is our duty to our families and our communities. In return, we are asking for something that could help us beat the odds.

Rich MacKinnon Jr. as president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts represents over 12,000 firefighters and paramedics across the commonwealth. 

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