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Madison — Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald employed an unusual gambit Wednesday to keep his house from passing — at least for now — a bill to help cancer patients afford chemotherapy drugs.

The action by the Committee on Organization chaired by the Juneau Republican blocked supporters Wednesday from forcing a Senate vote on the bill, which would require insurance plans overseen by the state to provide coverage for expensive forms of chemotherapy drugs that patients take as pills rather than as infusions and injections.

Fitzgerald blocked the vote by scheduling — and then canceling — the second committee hearing in the last month on a bill that already had its usual public hearing last year.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the move, Fitzgerald said he believed the bipartisan bill would pass the Senate if it ever gets a floor vote but that he had used the procedural maneuver to give Republicans more time to decide if the bill should get that vote. He declined to say whether he supported the bill, saying it was a "tough issue" for Republicans on which there was little middle ground.

"It's a majority of the body (of senators supporting the bill) but not a majority of the Republican caucus," he said.

The legislation is backed by a coalition of advocacy groups, such as the American Cancer Society and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, as well as Columbia St. Mary's Health System, Marshfield Clinic and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The proposal is opposed by health insurers who contend it will drive up the cost of health insurance.

The organization committee exists largely to schedule bills for floor votes and effectively never holds hearings, only meetings in which it votes on the Senate calendar.

But the committee scheduled a hearing on the chemotherapy bill for 1 p.m. Wednesday — a time that fell right after the Senate finished its morning floor debate. The meeting was promptly canceled after the Senate adjourned.

The phantom hearing had the effect of blocking senators from forcing a floor vote on the bill because under Senate rules a proposal can't be yanked from committee and voted on by the full Senate if a hearing has been scheduled. That means that for now senators won't have to take a tough vote on an issue where the emotional stories of cancer sufferers are common.

Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), the lead sponsor of the chemotherapy legislation, offered only a brief comment on what she called a "wonderful bill" as she passed reporters.

"I'd love to see oral chemo come up for a vote, but it's not up to me," Darling said.

For some cancers, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia and multiple myeloma, crucial drugs are taken orally and are covered by a health plan's prescription drug benefit. Some health plans cover only part of the cost of expensive prescription drugs, with no limits on out-of-pocket spending.

By contrast, cancer drugs administered intravenously at hospitals or clinics are covered once a patient hits his or her deductible as part of health plans' medical coverage.

"This has passed in 28 states with no negative impacts," said Paul Westrick, chairman of the board of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society-Wisconsin. "This is the future treatment for cancer care."

Many new cancer drugs are taken as pills.

"This is important enough of a bill for the people of Wisconsin that we would like to see it scheduled for a vote," said Westrick, a cancer survivor whose cancer required oral chemotherapy drugs.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton), another supporter of the bill, said he was considering making a motion to yank the bill to the floor until he learned of the hearing.

"I think with certain GOP legislators, the insurance industry has more pull than people with cancer," he said. "I don't know how else to put it."

Opponents of the bill disagree, saying it's complicated because as a state, Wisconsin can affect only the portion of the insurance market that it regulates. That means the state would impose an extra responsibility on some insurers and their customers while other businesses falling under federal regulations would continue without the extra requirement.

The Wisconsin Association of Health Plans has labeled the bill "The Oral Chemotherapy Mandate" and contends it "represents a government attempt to restrict the market."

Phil Dougherty, senior executive officer of the association, said it would set a bad precedent and would also be unfair to other patients taking expensive medications.

The real problem is not the insurance industry, Dougherty said, it's drugs that can cost up to $10,000 a month.

"The legislation does nothing to address the problem. Those drugs are very expensive. Somehow they have to be paid for," he said.

Dougherty said the federal Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, resolves part of the problem by limiting how much out-of-pocket costs consumers can have for drugs and all other medical expenses to $6,600 for an individual and $13,200 for a family in 2015.

If state lawmakers seek to put more legal requirements on insurers in Wisconsin, that would drive up costs on insurance premiums and make it harder for employers and consumers to afford coverage, he said.

Dougherty said the issue wasn't being decided by influence held by insurers in his group and another, the Alliance of Health Insurers.

"The merits of our positions are strong enough to give lawmakers pause about pushing through the legislation," he said.

The chemotherapy bill already had one hearing in October in the Senate Committee on Insurance and Housing, which approved the bill unanimously on Jan. 30, readying the legislation for action in a floor session.

Even if the bill cleared the Senate, it would still face difficulties as legislators wrap up their session by early next month. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said majority Republicans have not discussed the issue as a group, but he believed many of them would be reluctant to go along with it.

Many Assembly Republicans believe such a change would lead to higher rates at a time when insurers are already feeling cost pressures, Vos said.

Oral chemotherapy drugs can run $120,000 a year, imposing enormous costs on patients whose insurance plans treat them as pharmaceuticals for which the patients must pay much of the expenses.

More than a quarter of the estimated 400 chemotherapy drugs in development are in oral form, according to advocates.

Jason Stein reported for this story in Madison and Guy Boulton in Milwaukee. Patrick Marley in Madison contributed to this report.