The Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Ore. on Monday, Feb 2, 2026.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
A bill that requires some health insurance companies to provide free exams and tests to diagnose cervical cancer has passed both chambers in the Oregon legislature.
Representative Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, who has publicly shared about her cervical cancer diagnosis last year and her ongoing treatment, testified in support of the bill.
Hartman, who has stage 3 cancer, shared during a work session on the bill that she has received four rounds of internal radiation treatment, a procedure she said “I would not wish on anyone.”
Hartman said women who survive cervical cancer deal with the consequences of treatment for the rest of their lives. For many like herself, Hartman said, that means entering menopause early.
“This was all preventable,” she said, urging her colleagues not to leave it to up to insurance companies to decide what diagnostics to cover.
Senate Bill 1527 passed unanimously in both the House and Senate and now heads to Gov. Tina Kotek’s desk for a signature to become law.
Cervical cancer is treatable in its early stages, and over the past 30 years, improvements in screening and the HPV vaccine have dramatically reduced the number of people who die from it.
The Affordable Care Act made pap smears and the HPV vaccine free. But additional costs for follow-up testing still prevent some people from getting an early diagnosis and effective treatment, according to the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
That’s because about 5% of patients have abnormal results following their initial screening. They require follow up testing to confirm or rule out cancer. Those tests can cost insured patients up to $1,000, depending on their copays and deductibles.
The bill requires commercial health plans regulated by the state to eliminate those out-of-pocket costs.
It also mandates free cervical cancer screening and diagnostic testing for state employees, many teachers, and their families who are insured through the Public Employees Benefit Board and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board.
“We know from repeated studies and from the scientific literature that cervical cancers are one of the most preventable cancers, but they have to be caught early,” said Jane Leo, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network government relations director for Oregon. “It is potentially a life-saving measure.”
The Oregon bill would not apply to some employer plans which are self-funded and regulated exclusively by the federal government.
But federal policymakers have tacked in the same direction. Starting in 2027, new guidelines from the Health Resources and Services Administration will require insurers across the country to cover follow-up testing for cervical cancer screenings.
Oregon already requires free screening and diagnosis for colon and breast cancers.
