MONTGOMERY, Ala. — With Alabama routinely ranking among the worst states in the country in terms of health outcomes and access, Alabama House Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, has filed two bills aimed at improving both.
The first, House Bill 45, would require the Alabama Medicaid Agency to cover non-invasive colorectal cancer screening tests, and cover subsequent colonoscopies in cases of positive results.
“It’s very simple, it is a tiny amount of money, and being a good Republican, I’m very sensitive about money,” Oliver told Alabama Daily News Monday.
“That’s one of those things where the expenditure, when you look at the number of colorectal cancer cases that we have with Medicaid patients, it saves the state tons of money in the long run we believe, for a very, very small outlay.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, Alabama has a colon cancer rate of 40.1 per 100,000 people, higher than the national rate of 36.4. The state’s mortality rate from colon cancer is higher too when compared to national rates, at 14.4 per 100,000 compared to 12.9, respectively.
At less than two full pages, the bill would require that the Alabama Medicaid Agency provide Medicaid recipients, free of charge, colorectal cancer screening tests assigned an A or B grade by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, such as Cologuard, allowing for patients to self-test at home.
Oliver, who also chairs the House Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, said that addressing health care issues in the state – which have been exacerbated by rural hospitals shuttering their services – has always remained a top priority of his.
“Even though Military Veterans Affairs takes up most of my time, I still, through the Rural and Republican Caucus, we’ve got a pretty good team working on health care issues, and I do my absolute best to get people involved in things that I think are important.”
An option Oliver said he still won’t entertain, however, at least in the immediate future, is expanding the state’s Medicaid program under the provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which would entitle the state to significant federal funding and provide coverage to an estimated 300,000 additional Alabamians.
“We’ve just got a whole host of problems that we’ve got to wrestle before even considering expanding Medicaid,” he said.
Another one of Oliver’s bills, House Bill 46, would increase the state’s tax credit for physicians practicing in rural areas from $5,000 per year to $10,000.
The bill, which Oliver carried unsuccessfully in 2023, would also amend language relating to eligibility for the tax credit, citing an issue in his own district where a physician practicing in a rural area was ineligible for the program due to living slightly too far from where he worked.
State lawmakers have filed a number of bills in an effort to address the shrinking health care access in Alabama’s rural communities to mixed success.
Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, for instance, sponsored a bill earlier this year that could have provided up to $80 million a year for rural hospitals by allowing donations to them to be tax write-offs. The bill ultimately failed to become law.
“We’re trying to get physicians to practice in rural areas,” Oliver said. “The price increase was really just a reflection of our economy.”
Oliver’s HB45 is assigned to the House Committee on Health and HB46 to the House Committee on Ways and Means Education. The 2025 legislative session starts Feb. 4.