Former president Jimmy Carter inspires cancer legislation in Georgia

ATLANTA -- Georgians who have late-stage cancer and insurance would be guaranteed access to all treatments under a new bill inspired by former President Jimmy Carter's melanoma diagnosis.

"With this legislation, we decided to do something that would be beneficial to victims of cancer, and at the same time we can recognize (Carter's) philanthropic endeavors," said state Rep. Mike Cheokas, R-Americus, of his new bipartisan measure.

The bill says insurance policies cannot require those who have advanced cancer to fail to respond to one or more treatments before they are approved for other treatment. Cheokas said some plans require patients to try certain drugs before they can get others.

"We're talking about stage 4 stuff. It's moving from one part of the body to another part of the body," Cheokas said.

The Carter and the Cheokas families have been friends for decades, even if they don't share the same politics, the legislator said.

"It was a collective worry in our community when it was announced he had cancer" last year, Cheokas said.

To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Former president Jimmy Carter inspires cancer legislation in Georgia."