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Speaker 1: It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, I'm going easy Boston's News Radio.

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Speaker 2: On This was Monday Night. This week we had one

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Speaker 2: of our eight o'clock guests who talked about an effort

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Speaker 2: here in Massachusetts to get some legislation on the books

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Speaker 2: that would help people who are dealing with cancer. And

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Speaker 2: obviously there's probably no one in this audience who doesn't

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Speaker 2: know someone or doesn't have a family member who has

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Speaker 2: not been impacted by cancer. And it's it comes in

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Speaker 2: many forms, it is. It is a disease that and

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Speaker 2: I think the researchers are doing better with over time.

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Speaker 2: But one of the things that that researchers have made

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Speaker 2: some progress on is something called a bio markers. And

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Speaker 2: we're going to explain what bio marks are and why

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Speaker 2: we need a couple of pieces of legislation in Massachusetts

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Speaker 2: to get on the books that everyone, whatever their background,

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Speaker 2: once they have been diagnosed with cancer, should have the opportunity,

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Speaker 2: if it's applicable, to have biomarkers involved in their treatment. Now,

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Speaker 2: we're not going to get real, you know, not yet

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Speaker 2: real complicated here, but I have a great guest who

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Speaker 2: was with me on Monday nineties back tonight Mark Kaimowitz.

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Speaker 2: He's the regional director of government Relations, Regional government Relations

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Speaker 2: director of the American Cancer Society and the Cancer Action Network.

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Speaker 2: And tomorrow there will be a lot of people citizens

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Speaker 2: going to the State House to lobby, and there's nothing

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Speaker 2: wrong with that word, to lobby their legislators to support

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Speaker 2: some legislation that we'll explain. So, first of all, welcome back,

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Speaker 2: Mark number one. Thanks for coming back tonight and the

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Speaker 2: longer form and being willing to answer questions from listeners

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Speaker 2: at some point.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back, Thank you, and thanks for having me back.

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Speaker 3: And I really appreciate you trying to get the word

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Speaker 3: out and help us.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is this is a nonpartisan, a bipartisan issue.

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Speaker 2: Cancer affects everyone potentially. It doesn't discriminate based upon race

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Speaker 2: or gender, ethnic background, it doesn't. It impacts people who

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Speaker 2: are Republicans, Democrats, independents, you know, socialists, every possible philosophy.

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Speaker 2: It just it's a mystery. It's a mystery. White people

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Speaker 2: get it. We know that there's a lot of cancers

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Speaker 2: that can be related to things that we've been exposed to.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people who were exposed to nine to

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Speaker 2: eleven and the recovery of bodies at nine to eleven,

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Speaker 2: and and and dealing with being there for weeks at

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Speaker 2: a time. We know that there were fire pits in

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Speaker 2: the in the in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and

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Speaker 2: in Iraq that US military. Uh it's they directly, you know,

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Speaker 2: have caused cancer.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 2: So everybody understands that this is a This is a

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Speaker 2: horrific disease and it affects, you know, all of our organs.

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Speaker 2: I have a friend who's dealing with pancreatic cancer right now,

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Speaker 2: and there are people who get brain cancer. So so

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Speaker 2: the good news is that there's this idea. Uh and

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Speaker 2: and it's probably more than an idea because it's being

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Speaker 2: utilized of what's called bio markers. And I think if

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Speaker 2: I'm wrong, feel free to correct remark because you're the expert.

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Speaker 2: I'm not. But these these two pieces of legislation, one

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Speaker 2: in the House and one in the Senate here in

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Speaker 2: Massachusetts focus upon bio markers. Correct correct, well, yes, can

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Speaker 2: you explain to my audience in layman's terms, none of

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Speaker 2: us ever took or passed organic chemistry in college. We

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Speaker 2: didn't even try to try to pass organic chemistry. Is

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Speaker 2: what doctors are able to pass and they then get

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Speaker 2: to go to medical school. In simple terms, what a

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Speaker 2: biomarker is, Why are they so important? What do they do?

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Speaker 2: And let's talk about how we can we can make

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Speaker 2: them more readily available. I guess that's really the purpose

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Speaker 2: of this legislation.

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Speaker 3: Correct, That's absolutely correct, And so progress in improving cancer

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Speaker 3: outcomes increasingly involve the use of precision medicine. Traditional chemotherapy,

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Speaker 3: which has been used for decades to treat cancers. It

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Speaker 3: can be effective, but it can't really. Traditional chemotherapy can't

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Speaker 3: really tell the difference between cancer cells and healthy cells,

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Speaker 3: so it poisons lots of cells and hence the side

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Speaker 3: effects and things like that. But more and more often

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Speaker 3: cancers being treated with precision medicine. They can better target

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Speaker 3: the cancer cells, so there's fewer side effects, better outcomes.

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Speaker 3: But in order to determine whether or not a patient

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Speaker 3: a patient's cancer will respond well to that precision medicine,

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Speaker 3: doctors need to do a biomarker test to see if

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Speaker 3: they if their cancer will respond well. So a biomarker

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Speaker 3: is just it's a sign of a normal biological process

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Speaker 3: or disease or abnormal function. That can be measured, so

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Speaker 3: the markers are offered gene mutations or protein expressions, and

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Speaker 3: then the biomarket test is the analysis of the patient's tissue, blood,

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Speaker 3: or other biospecimen for the presence of this biomarker.

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Speaker 2: Okay, and then yeah, so let's assume someone is diagnosed

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Speaker 2: with a cancer of some form. Is the biomarker test invasive?

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Speaker 2: Is it? Is it relatively simple? Is it unpleasant?

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Speaker 3: What?

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Speaker 2: What makes it as expensive as it is, because as

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Speaker 2: I understand that it's not necessarily readily available.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it could be done through a blood test

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Speaker 3: or through a biopsy, depending on the type of cancer.

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Speaker 3: It can be invasive in some cases, which is why

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Speaker 3: the bill we're looking at, and I can talk more

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Speaker 3: about it in a bit, but would require the tests

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Speaker 3: to test for all the different biomarkers that a certain

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Speaker 3: cancer might have, rather than testing for one biomarker at

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Speaker 3: a time, where you know, they have to go into

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Speaker 3: a biopsy test for that biomarker or that mutation. Patient

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Speaker 3: doesn't have it, so let's go in again, and and

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Speaker 3: you know it's more invasive. So it's just trying to

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Speaker 3: get the patient to the right treatment. At the right time.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I want to drill down a little bit more

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Speaker 2: so I understand this. Obviously, a blood test, I mean,

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Speaker 2: no one likes to have needles, But a blood test

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Speaker 2: is I assume the simplest way if you can extract

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Speaker 2: the blood and then conduct a biomarket test. I assume

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Speaker 2: that would probably be the most reasonable cost that that

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Speaker 2: an insurance company would have to incur would be if

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Speaker 2: a biopsy I assume is by necessity more complicated there

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Speaker 2: or more expensive.

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Speaker 3: Correct, correct, But you know, overall the cost of the insurers,

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Speaker 3: which is kind of what we're looking at, which is

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Speaker 3: going to be what contributes to the overall healthcare cost.

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Speaker 3: So according to a study from a couple of years

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Speaker 3: ago done by Milliman on the analysis of biomarket testing,

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Speaker 3: so the average allowed cost for biomarket tests ranges from

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Speaker 3: anywhere from about seventy eight dollars to two hundred and

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Speaker 3: twenty four dollars. You're not having.

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Speaker 2: Prohibitor even at the high end of that.

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Speaker 3: Range exactly, you know, and some may be a little

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Speaker 3: bit more, some may be a little bit less, but

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Speaker 3: it's it's overall not a huge cost. And then the

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Speaker 3: study also, so what.

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Speaker 2: Once that test is done. I assume that the information

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Speaker 2: that that that test produces makes the the treatment program

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Speaker 2: a lot more effective for most, if not all, cancer patients.

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Speaker 2: I'm just trying to break it down in the simplest

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Speaker 2: terms possible. And if I'm overstating it, you know, tell.

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Speaker 3: Me, Nope, you're you're not at all. And by doing

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Speaker 3: the biomarket tests, and not all cancers have biomarkers, but

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Speaker 3: many do, and so if a doctor can identify which

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Speaker 3: therapies are most likely to be effective, the biomarkets can

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Speaker 3: help match the patient with the best possible options so

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Speaker 3: they can stay at healthcare dollars.

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Speaker 2: Yep, let's take a break, if it's okay, And because

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Speaker 2: I want to pick up right where we are. The

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Speaker 2: benefits of Obviously, the benefit to the patient is extraordinary.

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Speaker 2: I think we've established that. If anyone doesn't understand that

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Speaker 2: and has a question, feel free. Uh. Now, when we

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Speaker 2: get back, let's talk about what are the benefits actually,

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Speaker 2: And they appear to be benefits to not only society

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Speaker 2: as well as the individual patient, but also to the

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Speaker 2: insurance company. So we'll talk about that, and we'll get

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Speaker 2: some phone calls along the way. The phone number is

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Speaker 2: six one, seven two, five, four ten thirty six one

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Speaker 2: seven nine one ten thirty. I will tell you that, look,

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Speaker 2: cancer can affect anybody at any time. It's as simple

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Speaker 2: as that, from little kids. That's why they have, you know,

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Speaker 2: some of these children's hospitals, the Jimmy Fund here in Boston,

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Speaker 2: the Boston Children's Hospital, to people who are at the

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Speaker 2: end of their lives. So this is one that I

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Speaker 2: really think everybody should get behind. And that's why I've

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Speaker 2: asked Mark Kimovitz, who is with the American Cancer Society,

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Speaker 2: to join us tonight. He can answer these questions a

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Speaker 2: lot better than I can. So if you have a

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Speaker 2: question six months seven two five four thirty, six months,

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Speaker 2: seven nine thirty, the call to action here for me

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Speaker 2: is going to be to encourage you. If we have

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Speaker 2: persuaded you this is a piece of good legislation, to

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Speaker 2: perhaps call you're a local state representative or your state senator.

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Speaker 2: We'll get to all of that, I promise, but we've

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Speaker 2: got to take this very quick break. In a couple

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Speaker 2: of commercial messages, I'll be back with my guest, the

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Speaker 2: Regional Governmental Government Relations director for the American Cancer Society

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Speaker 2: Mark Heimovitz. Right after the break.

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Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm telling you Boston's News Radio.

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Speaker 2: My guest is Mark Heimowitz. He's the regional governmental government

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Speaker 2: Relations director of the American Cancer Society and the Cancer

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Speaker 2: Action Network. And tomorrow there's an effort where citizens are

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Speaker 2: going to the state House to try to speak with lobby,

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Speaker 2: if you will, the state legislator. So we've talked about

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Speaker 2: the benefits of biomarkers. There are twenty three states in

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Speaker 2: America that have passed legislation similar to what the legislature

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Speaker 2: will be considering here in Massachusetts. Many of those states

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Speaker 2: are not states that you would consider to be as

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Speaker 2: forward thinking as Massachusetts. Certainly many of those states do

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Speaker 2: not have the great medical facilities that we're blessed to

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Speaker 2: have here in Massachusetts. But Massachusetts, along with Vermont, New Hampshire,

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Speaker 2: and New England in Maine, excuse me here in New England,

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Speaker 2: are considering this type of legislation. How much we have

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Speaker 2: a sixty two or sixty four or billion dollars state

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Speaker 2: budget in Massachusetts. Is there any estimate of how much

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Speaker 2: annually the cost of utilizing biomarkers markers for cancer patients

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Speaker 2: would increase the cost of health insurance or or cost

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Speaker 2: the cost of medicine here in Massachusetts. Is it a

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Speaker 2: prohibitive number?

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Speaker 3: We don't believe so. And so the study at the

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Speaker 3: milliment study I mentioned earlier also looked at the per

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Speaker 3: member per month cost of providing this benefit, and that's

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Speaker 3: so that's how things like this are costed out for insurance.

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Speaker 3: And it projected an impact of about eight cents to

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Speaker 3: fifty one cents per member per month. And so that's

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Speaker 3: the cost of the benefit. But that does not account

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Speaker 3: for potential cost savings from avoiding ineffective treatments.

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Speaker 2: Well, okay, so let's put the cost savings away for

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Speaker 2: a second. Let's just talk. If you telling about eight

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Speaker 2: cents to fifty one cents a month, eight cents times

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Speaker 2: eight times twelve is like a dollar a year, and

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Speaker 2: fifty cents times twelve is six dollars a year. Even

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Speaker 2: I can use I can do that math. So for

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Speaker 2: on that of course means that the patients it's an average,

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Speaker 2: So you have the vast majority of patients are not

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Speaker 2: being treated for biomarkers for cancer and utilizing biomarkers. This

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Speaker 2: seems to me to be just at that point a

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Speaker 2: great idea, what are the potential savings down the line

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Speaker 2: so that people will be able to be diagnosed and

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Speaker 2: treated earlier with cancer who have cancer, which obviously leads

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Speaker 2: if you get if you treat this disease early and effectively,

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Speaker 2: you have a much better chance to survive. So what

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Speaker 2: are the and and you would you would not have

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Speaker 2: to be dealing with a lot of the the medicines

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Speaker 2: and the treatments and the therapies once once you get

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Speaker 2: rid of the cancer. So what are the what are

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Speaker 2: the cost savings.

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Speaker 3: Some of the obvious cost savings are avoided treatments, right,

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Speaker 3: So the treatments that are avoided because if you if

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Speaker 3: your doctor knows you have a certain biomarker and that

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Speaker 3: certain treatments will be ineffective, they're not going to put

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Speaker 3: you through those. They can get you to the treatments

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Speaker 3: that they know will be more effective. So unavoided treatment

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Speaker 3: is one cost savings. Then there's others where there's certain

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Speaker 3: cancers that are treated with a bone marrow transplant. There's

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Speaker 3: some newer precision medicines now that bone marrow transplants extremely expensive,

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Speaker 3: not to mention very invasive on patients not.

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Speaker 2: A pleasant experience.

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Speaker 3: From what I understand exactly, and you are hundreds of

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Speaker 3: thousands of dollars. There's now some precision medicines that can

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Speaker 3: treat some of those cancers without having to do a

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Speaker 3: bone mare or transplant. But they need the doctor needs

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Speaker 3: to know whether or not the patient will respond to

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Speaker 3: those and they can tell that by seeing if the

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Speaker 3: patient has a specific biomarker specific mutation. And so obviously

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Speaker 3: there's huge cost saving there, and you know, lawmakers have

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Speaker 3: to look at costs, and we get that. Obviously, there's

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Speaker 3: also the benefit to the patient as well.

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Speaker 2: There's also another and the benefits of the patient. If

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Speaker 2: this increase is the likely that the patient can actually

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Speaker 2: survive a cancer, the years that they might live with

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Speaker 2: their family and see with their children and with their grandchildren,

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Speaker 2: the great grandchildren. There's no way to put a value

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Speaker 2: in that. Let me cut to the chase here for

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Speaker 2: a second, okay, And I don't want to in any way,

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Speaker 2: shape or form call into question how good we are

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Speaker 2: here in Massachusetts. We have the best medical treatment in

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Speaker 2: the country. We're blessed. If you're going to get sick,

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Speaker 2: you want to get sick in Massachusetts. A lot of

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Speaker 2: things we can use to criticize Massachusetts weather blizzards, uh,

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Speaker 2: maybe the taxes and all of that, But in terms

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Speaker 2: of medical treatment, in medical technologies, we're number one. But

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Speaker 2: there's twenty three states that have already said, okay, we

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Speaker 2: will pass this law for our citizens, including states that

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Speaker 2: you don't think of as states that are on the

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Speaker 2: forefront of you know, the medical community, states like Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia,

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Speaker 2: and Mississippi. How how is it that these states of

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Speaker 2: our resolved this in their legislatures and signed by the

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Speaker 2: governors and we're still we're still struggling with it and

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Speaker 2: and have have the need to have this day of

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Speaker 2: lobbying tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know the states you mentioned and the bipartisan,

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Speaker 3: bipartisanship of this issue speaks to what you were talking

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Speaker 3: about earlier. Right, No one, no one has not been

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Speaker 3: There's no one that has been not been affected by cancer,

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Speaker 3: whether it's themselves, their family, their friends.

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Speaker 2: And if you were, even if somehow you've got a

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Speaker 2: family that's never been impacted by cancer, your neighbors, have,

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Speaker 2: the people you work with, I mean, your friends, go

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Speaker 2: ahead I didn't mean to interrupt. Mark right ahead.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no, you're you're you're absolutely right, and and

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Speaker 3: you know, it's just like that here in Massachusetts. We've

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Speaker 3: got bipartisan support in the House and the Senate. We've

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Speaker 3: got Republicans Democrats. This is the second session that the

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Speaker 3: bill has been filed in this form in Massachusetts, and

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Speaker 3: we've worked with lots of great legislators and we're very

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Speaker 3: excited because we're making some some real good progress this session.

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Speaker 3: So the bill has been reported favorably out of two

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Speaker 3: important committees, the Joint Committee on Financial Services and the

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Speaker 3: Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing, and we're appreciative of the

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Speaker 3: folks on those committees. It's now in the House Ways

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Speaker 3: and Means Committee, and we're working and meeting with members

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Speaker 3: of that committee. And it's an education process legislature in Massachusetts.

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Speaker 3: I think there's six or seven thousand bills filed every year,

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Speaker 3: and as advocates, part of our job is to educate

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Speaker 3: our elected officials as to what's important and what could

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Speaker 3: benefit us, our families and the residents of Massachusetts. And

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Speaker 3: that's why, as you mentioned, we're going to have our

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Speaker 3: American Camp Society Cancer Action Network Lobby Day tomorrow. We've

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Speaker 3: we're up to I think over one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 3: of our volunteers from across the state that will be

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Speaker 3: at the State House tomorrow. They've got meetings scheduled with

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Speaker 3: their state representatives, their state senators to talk to them

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Speaker 3: about why it's important to pass this bill and the

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Speaker 3: benefits of biomarker testing getting patients to the right treatment

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Speaker 3: at the right time. And several of the volunteers that

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Speaker 3: will have up there tomorrow have stories of their own

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Speaker 3: that biomarker testing was part of their cancer treatment, and

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Speaker 3: we talked about the cost saving. So at least one

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Speaker 3: of our volunteers who shares her story off and talks

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Speaker 3: about going through lung cancer treatments over a couple of

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Speaker 3: years when traditional chemotherapy, this volunteer would not be able

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Speaker 3: to have worked, would not be able to have gone

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Speaker 3: on with life while they were being treated. But because

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Speaker 3: they were able to get precision medicine, and because they

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Speaker 3: got a biomarket test which determined that she would benefit

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Speaker 3: from precision medicine, she was able to continue to work.

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Speaker 3: If you didn't know it just by looking at her,

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Speaker 3: wouldn't know she was going through cancer treatments, continue to work,

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Speaker 3: spend time with their family, even just you know, there's

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Speaker 3: cost there's cost savings to having people out in the

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Speaker 3: workforce being able to continue to work and be productive.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, absolutely talk about the cost savings, but that's

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Speaker 3: also a cost benefit as well.

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Speaker 2: Mark, I think we've made the case. I'm going to

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Speaker 2: go to phone calls right after the news break, folks,

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Speaker 2: I want to give you the main number of the

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Speaker 2: State House, and if you want to talk to your

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Speaker 2: state representative or your state senator or the office and

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Speaker 2: you can't physically get to the State House tomorrow, I'll

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Speaker 2: give this number a couple of times, but at six one, seven,

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Speaker 2: seven to two thou and all you do is you

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Speaker 2: tell them where you live and they will forward you

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Speaker 2: to your representative and you can leave a message or

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Speaker 2: talk to a staff member and we'll give you the

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Speaker 2: numbers of the pieces of legislation. They'll know what it is,

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Speaker 2: basically in both the House and Senate, the Buyer Market Bill.

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Speaker 2: We're going to take a break, I'm going to be

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Speaker 2: back with phone calls. My guest is Mark Heimowitz. He

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Speaker 2: is with the American Cancer Society. Cancer Action Network. He's

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Speaker 2: explained it really well, so even I can understand that,

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Speaker 2: and if I can understand that, I know most of

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Speaker 2: you will be able to understand that as well, because

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Speaker 2: I was never really good in this sort of stuff,

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Speaker 2: uh uh at college. But the American Cancer Society is

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Speaker 2: the one that is out there trying to eradicate this

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Speaker 2: horrific set of diseases which afflict so many of us.

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Speaker 2: Will take a break. The only one line that is

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Speaker 2: open right now if you want to get through is

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Speaker 2: six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. We're going

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Speaker 2: to get to the phone callers right after the break,

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Speaker 2: and the newscast at the bottom of the hour.

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Speaker 1: It's Night Sided with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: We're talking about the concept called biomarkers, which apparently are

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Speaker 2: very effective in helping medical providers decide what cancer treatments

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Speaker 2: would be most effective for each and every cancer patient.

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Speaker 2: And they are not at this point covered by insurance

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Speaker 2: in Massachusetts. And the effort now is to get a

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Speaker 2: piece of legislation in Massachusetts which will cover biomarker treatments

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Speaker 2: for every person in Massachusetts under the Massachusetts Insurance policies.

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Speaker 2: Whether I assume Mark. My guess is Markheimowitz. I assume Mark.

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Speaker 2: This would either be private insurance companies or state sponsored

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Speaker 2: insurance insurers. Correct this for the.

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Speaker 3: All state regulated insurers, well said Medicaid and state retirees

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Speaker 3: and employees.

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Speaker 2: Okay, and not a prohibitive cost. Probably the savings will

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Speaker 2: far outreach the cost of the program. There are already

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Speaker 2: twenty three states, including many states that you might not

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Speaker 2: think of as being in the forefront of medical procedures,

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Speaker 2: and Massachusetts has a little catch it up to do.

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Speaker 2: So let's go to the calls and see what people

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Speaker 2: have to think. And some of you have waited quite

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Speaker 2: a while. I appreciate that. Junga or Junga in Lindfield, welcome.

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Speaker 2: You are first this hour of nightside. Give me the

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Speaker 2: correct pronunciation of your.

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Speaker 4: Name, Changa. Thank you, thanks for taking my call. Dan,

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Speaker 4: It's called Younga Tanga. Okay, thank you for calling taking

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Speaker 4: my call, Dan, thank you. I'm just calling in and

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Speaker 4: I just wanted to share my story because I think

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Speaker 4: it's really very important for your audience to know how

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Speaker 4: important these biomarker testing is and saving lives cancer patients particularly,

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Speaker 4: And I'm a cancer survivor. I'm a stage three lung

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Speaker 4: cancer survivor. I was just just to give you a background.

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Speaker 4: I'm a non smose Korean American who was diagnosed in

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Speaker 4: twenty two and I had a fabulous oncologist who was

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Speaker 4: very knowledgeable, and he suspected that I had a certain

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Speaker 4: mutation because of my East Asian descent. Okay, so he

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Speaker 4: had this biomarker testing done for me, and it was

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Speaker 4: a simple blood test. It took a couple of days

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Speaker 4: for the results to come back, and at the time,

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Speaker 4: it was really important that I got this information as

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Speaker 4: soon as possible. So in the matter of two days,

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Speaker 4: he found out that I did not have an EGFR,

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Speaker 4: but I had something very rare, which is a noncurable

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Speaker 4: situation with me, and it showed him that the plan

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Speaker 4: that we had maybe going down chemotherapy or immunotherapy was

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Speaker 4: going to be something that would not work for me.

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Speaker 4: I had such a rare condition that it tied me

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Speaker 4: to a certain medication that's FDA approved, and I took it.

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Speaker 4: It was four pills every single day as my first

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Speaker 4: target treatment. This pill saved my life. It shranked my

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Speaker 4: tumor cells by forty percent in two months, and it

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Speaker 4: had such little side effects that I was able to

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Speaker 4: just kind of weightlift and you know, feed myself and

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Speaker 4: get dressed and work and carry on like a normal

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Speaker 4: person without cancer.

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Speaker 2: How long ago on? How many years ago?

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Speaker 4: This was in twenty two? Okay, So I'm now disease free.

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Speaker 4: So I am cancer free at this a day because

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Speaker 4: of the remarkable results from the buyermarker panel. And what's

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Speaker 4: really upsetting right now, Dan, just to make the long

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Speaker 4: story short, is that my insurance company denied that coverage.

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Speaker 2: So the blood test and how much one of the

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Speaker 2: how much was the blood test did it cost? It

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Speaker 2: had not, It could not have been prohibitive if it

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Speaker 2: was a blood test.

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Speaker 4: Well, the blood test was not covered by my insurance,

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Speaker 4: but the company that had done the blood test analysis

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Speaker 4: had submitted my claims and fought for me, so they

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Speaker 4: buried that cost because they knew that this was going

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Speaker 4: to be an obstacle for patients.

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Speaker 2: No, No, I get that. But Mike, I'm asking the

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Speaker 2: question for a reason. And that is, if you said

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Speaker 2: to me the blood test was seventy seven thousand dollars,

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Speaker 2: you might say, well, the insurance company probably that was

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Speaker 2: a big amount of money I got to wish. I

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Speaker 2: don't think that blood test was a fraction of that.

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Speaker 2: Do you have any idea how much you know? When?

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Speaker 2: When the when when the insurance company rejects, you know,

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Speaker 2: a fifty thousand dollars item and you say, well, they

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Speaker 2: don't cover that, unfortunately, But when they reject I don't know,

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Speaker 2: you know, thirty cents for a copy of some medical report,

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Speaker 2: do you if you know? Great, If you don't, that's okay.

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Speaker 2: I'll bet it's pretty inexpensive.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, I never really got a bill, so I

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Speaker 4: can't say for sure. But let me tell you something

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Speaker 4: that's really ridiculous and nonsensical is that they the same

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Speaker 4: insurance company covered and paid for that oral medication that

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Speaker 4: costs twenty thousand dollars a month, yet they will not

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Speaker 4: cover the blood test that tells me that I should

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Speaker 4: take that medication.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, boy, that's that's interesting. Mark. Would you be able

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Speaker 2: to estimate what you think a biomarker blood test would cost?

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Speaker 2: I mean again, I think it's important for the audience

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Speaker 2: to understand that if this was going to cost one

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars for every person, the insurance company may

436
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 2: say Look, we'd love to be able to do it,

437
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 2: but that's prohibitive. But I'm going to assume out of

438
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 2: a blood test it's not something that's prohibitive. Or maybe

439
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:03,400
Speaker 2: I'm wrong.

440
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know the exact test, but I go

441
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 5: back to the study that we were talking about earlier

442
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 5: that reported the test range the cost of the test

443
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 5: range from seventy eight dollars to about two hundred and

444
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,840
Speaker 5: twenty four dollars with to obviously some more expensive some

445
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 5: left left.

446
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 6: But you'll know, you're.

447
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 3: Right, not not huge amounts, but it does the story.

448
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:32,359
Speaker 3: That story does highlight. One of the major reasons why

449
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,879
Speaker 3: we want to get this bill passed is because not

450
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 3: everyone's benefiting from precision medicine through biomarker testing. If if

451
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 3: someone's treated in an academic medical center like Dana Farda

452
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 3: or a mass General Cancer Institute here in Boston, two

453
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 3: great great world renound facilities, chances are if they're if

454
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 3: a person's insurance doesn't cover the biomarker test, those they're

455
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 3: they're going to eat the cost because they know that

456
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 3: it's it's not cost prohibitive and it's an important part

457
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 3: of a treatment plan. But if you're being treated in

458
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 3: a community hospital or a rural hospital that can't afford

459
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 3: to eat those costs. You're less likely to get that

460
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 3: biomarker test if your insurance doesn't coverage. So you know

461
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 3: that and other disparities are being exacerbated, and that's a

462
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 3: big reason why we want to get this bill passed.

463
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 3: So everyone, no matter where you live, no matter your

464
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 3: socioeconomic situation, or your your race, whatever, everyone will have

465
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 3: equal access to precision medicine and bio market testing.

466
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Thank you so much for your call. I

467
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 2: appreciate it very much. Thank youngulations on beating cancer. Thank

468
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 2: you so thank you. Talk to Okay, we'll take a

469
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 2: break back with my guest, Mark him Limits. He is

470
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 2: the regional government relations director of the American Cancer Society.

471
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 2: Every one of the line, faith in, Becca and Ron.

472
00:29:57,840 --> 00:29:59,720
Speaker 2: I'm going to get you in. If anyone else would

473
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 2: like to join the conversation. Six one seven, two, five, four,

474
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 2: ten thirty or six one seven nine, It's.

475
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray on wbzas Boston's news radio.

476
00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,120
Speaker 2: Back to the phone calls. We're talking about biomarkers and

477
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 2: the legislation will have an opportunity I think to see

478
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 2: a lot of people tomorrow if you'd like to join them.

479
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,440
Speaker 2: I guess the meeting at the steps of this is

480
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 2: it the steps of the State House mark at eleven

481
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 2: or is it inside in the state House at eleven It's.

482
00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 3: It's inside the State House at the Grand Staircase, which

483
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 3: is on the second floor, and our speaking program starts

484
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 3: at eleven o'clock.

485
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 2: We'd love to have an a lot of people then

486
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 2: go visit their legislators, hopefully exactly. Let's go next to

487
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 2: Faith in Medford. Faith Welcome next on Nightside.

488
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,840
Speaker 7: Hi Dan, I'm Mike. Thanks so much for having Neil

489
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 7: and me and Mike, thank you so much for talking

490
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,840
Speaker 7: about this important stuff. I'm you know, listening to the

491
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 7: last call or this really hits home for me and

492
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 7: especially everything you're talking about, because I lost my mother

493
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 7: to lung cancer, and it just her story sounded so

494
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 7: similar to my mom's. But my mom went undiagnosed for

495
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 7: three months, like she was. She was just coughing. She

496
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 7: was coughing so much. We couldn't figure out what was wrong.

497
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 8: They said, maybe it was cheap, maybe it was seeming

498
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 8: like who who knows? And then it took three months,

499
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 8: but then they said that eventually it was lung cancer.

500
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 8: And the experience the woman who just called in what

501
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 8: she spoke about, like, she also had lung cancer. She

502
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 8: beat it and because of this biomarker testing. That guy

503
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 8: I didn't know about this.

504
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 7: I'm not political, I don't know much about science, but like,

505
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,200
Speaker 7: I'm not an expert in this, but this could have

506
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 7: saved her.

507
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 2: And when did you pass? Faith? When did your mom pass?

508
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 2: How long ago?

509
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 7: This was in nineteen ninety nine, So.

510
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 2: I don't know. I just want to put your mind ease.

511
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 2: I don't know if biomarkers were even available, of how

512
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 2: long a biomarkers been around.

513
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 3: Mark it's somewhat of the newer over the last several years.

514
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 3: But you know, there's many stories like that where because

515
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 3: of the advancements we've made in research that patients twenty

516
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,479
Speaker 3: years ago didn't have access to Bible artists because they

517
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 3: might not have been used as part of treatments. But

518
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 3: it's why it's so important now we have this.

519
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely the reason.

520
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:27,239
Speaker 8: The only reason it's like that's the thing is like

521
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 8: she you know, this was in nineteen ninety nine and

522
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 8: now in twenty twenty six, like the people don't.

523
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,480
Speaker 7: Have access to this, and like, if they don't.

524
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 8: Have access to it, we might as well be in

525
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 8: nineteen ninety nine, like it might as well not exist.

526
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 2: So the reason I reason I say that I that

527
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 2: I brought that up was I was I was a

528
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 2: little fearful that you might have been thinking, Gee, if

529
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 2: I this was around and I didn't know about it,

530
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: it didn't exist when your mom was struggling. So thank

531
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 2: god you called because it points out that it wasn't

532
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 2: available for your mom. It wasn't as if you folks

533
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 2: didn't spend enough time trying to figure something out. So

534
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 2: your mom didn't have this as it just didn't exist,

535
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 2: But it exists now and it should be available for people. Faith.

536
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 2: I got to keep rolling here because I got a

537
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 2: bunch of calls I want to get to. I so

538
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 2: appreciate you telling us the story. So sad to lose

539
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 2: your mom under those circumstances, And yeah.

540
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 7: So I guess you know, Mike, Like, what I'd love

541
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 7: to know is what can I do? Like do I

542
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,120
Speaker 7: call my politician?

543
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 4: Like what do I say?

544
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 6: You?

545
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 3: Just?

546
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 2: What you do is you can go back and listen

547
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 2: to this hour on Nightside and demand. You can just

548
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 2: call them up. The number is six one, seven, seven

549
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,720
Speaker 2: to two thousand. That's the main number at the State House.

550
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 2: What are the bill numbers, Mike, because this is kind

551
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 2: of the time when we need to tell people there's

552
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 2: a Senate version and a House version. Do you have

553
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 2: those numbers in front of you.

554
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 6: Yeah.

555
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 3: So it's House Bill four three three nine and Senate

556
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 3: Bill A zero nine, Okay, and they're both the bills

557
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 3: are the same language. Uh, just one was filed in

558
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 3: the Senate and one was filed in the House, which

559
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:09,800
Speaker 3: is just in the weeds.

560
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,760
Speaker 2: Okay, total problem. And so the Senate bill is simply

561
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 2: eight oh nine and the House bill is four three

562
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,480
Speaker 2: three nine. Thank you, fath We'll give this number again

563
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: if you grab a piece of paper and pencil. We'll

564
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:24,120
Speaker 2: give this before the end of the hour, I promise.

565
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 6: Okay, thank you so much.

566
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:28,759
Speaker 2: Thank you, Fae, appreciate it. Let me go next to

567
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 2: Becca in South Boston. Beca, you're next on Nights Side

568
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 2: with my guest Mark Heimowitz.

569
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 9: Hi there, Thanks so much, Stan, and thank you Mark

570
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 9: for highlighting this work because you know, I know a

571
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 9: lot of people who have gone through unnecessary cancer treatments

572
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 9: and then have lost their lives because they did not

573
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 9: receive effective and timely treatment. So this means a lot.

574
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 9: I guess my question for you is.

575
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 4: It, who else are you working with on this?

576
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 9: Because I know I've heard that this type of testing,

577
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:09,040
Speaker 9: this general like blood testing, can be applicable to other diseases.

578
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 9: And I'm curious if you dies of the American Cancer

579
00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 9: Society are doing this, you know, alone, if you've got

580
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 9: other partners.

581
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,879
Speaker 2: Well a lot of people, Sure, go ahead, mark who else?

582
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 2: Who else might what other diseases victims of this benefit?

583
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:33,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, So biomarket testing, decision medicine, it's it's it's used

584
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,279
Speaker 3: a lot, and probably more so in cancer. But there

585
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,439
Speaker 3: are several diseases that biomarker testing is used for either

586
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:48,840
Speaker 3: diagnosis or treatment. Arthritis als several rare diseases which you

587
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:54,719
Speaker 3: are often very difficult to diagnose, but in more and

588
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 3: more cases now they can use biomarker testing to diagnose

589
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,320
Speaker 3: them and then sometimes guide treatment plans. And it's growing.

590
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 3: It's kind of the future of where treating many illnesses are.

591
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,719
Speaker 3: There was just a couple of years ago a biomarker

592
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:13,240
Speaker 3: was discovered through research for the Michael J. Fox funded

593
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,239
Speaker 3: by the Michael J. Fox Foundation to discover the biomarker

594
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 3: for Parkinson's disease. So once they have that research can

595
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:26,839
Speaker 3: researchers can start looking to find treatments based off of

596
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,800
Speaker 3: the mutation the biomarker that they found. And you know,

597
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,440
Speaker 3: it might take a few years, ten years, but finding

598
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 3: that biomarker will help get us to treatments across many diseases.

599
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 2: Becky, great question. I've got one more call who I'd

600
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 2: like to accommodate, and I will give the state House

601
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,400
Speaker 2: number for everybody to jot down and make a call tomorrow.

602
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:50,280
Speaker 2: It's very simple.

603
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,680
Speaker 9: Thank you, Becca, thank you, You're.

604
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 2: Welcome, and go to Ron and Newton. Ronnie, you're at

605
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:56,359
Speaker 2: the end of the line here, but I got you in.

606
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:57,320
Speaker 2: Go right ahead. Ron.

607
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 6: Okay, great, Thank you very much. Mark. I am wondering,

608
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 6: just to add on to the previous call, the sensitivity

609
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 6: and specificity for human papolomavirus, which ultimately can cause cancer,

610
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 6: is one hundred. There's zero false positives right now, so

611
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:25,799
Speaker 6: it's a very cost effective tests from that standpoint. The

612
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 6: other thing is that we have such expertise at the

613
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:33,360
Speaker 6: Harvard School of Public Health in terms of pharmacal economics

614
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:37,320
Speaker 6: and pharmical genomics. We had that back in the early

615
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 6: two thousands. It's so the question I have, I suppose,

616
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 6: is are any of those experts in pharmacoeconomics or pharmical

617
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 6: genomics on the team.

618
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 2: Okay, we got to get a quick answer here, Mark,

619
00:37:57,440 --> 00:37:59,319
Speaker 2: unfortunately getting flat out of time.

620
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,959
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we work with with researchers and doctors

621
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 3: across the board, and you know where I'm sure they've

622
00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 3: been involved in researching and even development of some of

623
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 3: these treatments.

624
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 2: All right, you raised a great question on Unfortunately I'm

625
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,759
Speaker 2: so tight on time here, I gotta gotta turn and

626
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:26,919
Speaker 2: at least give out the number one more time. Thank

627
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:30,320
Speaker 2: you so much. Ron As all much runs a medical background,

628
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,880
Speaker 2: and that's why his questions are so good. Okay, the

629
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 2: two pieces of legislation, they're very identical. But one is

630
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 2: in the Senate, so it starts with an S eight

631
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,560
Speaker 2: oh nine, and the other is in the House, so

632
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,719
Speaker 2: it starts within H four to three three nine. You

633
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,279
Speaker 2: can also just say the Biomarker Bill in either the

634
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 2: Senate or the House. Now, the main number at the

635
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 2: State House is really direct simple six seven seven two

636
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 2: two two thousand. You will get an operator. All you

637
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 2: have to do is tell the operator what community you

638
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 2: live in and they will be able to guide you

639
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,040
Speaker 2: if you don't know the name of your state Rep

640
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,800
Speaker 2: or your state senator. It's as simple. It's as simple

641
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:15,320
Speaker 2: as that. Markheimowitz, thank you so much. I wish you

642
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 2: best of luck. Tomorrow eleven o'clock. The main staircase at

643
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,280
Speaker 2: the State House on the second floor, easy to find.

644
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 2: Public is invited, you can you can meet people, see

645
00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:29,320
Speaker 2: people and walk around and meet your state reps. And

646
00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:31,720
Speaker 2: if you see your state rep this weekend at the diner,

647
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,879
Speaker 2: tell them this should be a priority. Simple as that. Mark,

648
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 2: thank you so much for doing this tonight. I hope

649
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,400
Speaker 2: it's going to help you a little bit tomorrow and

650
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 2: ultimately push this help push this over the line.

651
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for helping get the word out.

652
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 3: And if folks want more information, they can also visit

653
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 3: our website at fight cancer dot org slash slash Massachusetts.

654
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Dad, I appreciate it.

655
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:59,839
Speaker 2: Fight cancer dot org slash Massachusetts a noble goal. Mark,

656
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,319
Speaker 2: keep us posted, okay, We'll be more than happy to

657
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 2: do something. If this gets critical and we gotta give

658
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 2: it another little shove to get it over the finish line.

659
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 3: Fair enough, fair enough, and hopefully we'll have you there

660
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 3: when the bill assigned it to.

661
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 2: Law sounds great. Markaimovich of the Witch vis of the

662
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 2: American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. Once again, Mark, appreciate

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00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,239
Speaker 2: it very much. We get back. We're gonna talk about

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00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,400
Speaker 2: Hiawatha Bray or the Boston Globe, about those big lawsuits

665
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 2: that have come down in the last couple of days

666
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 2: that are going to cost some of the meta and

667
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,720
Speaker 2: Facebook and YouTube a lot of money. We'll explain