Biomarker testing is a process that analyzes blood tissue and other fluids.

It's become a real asset in the medical field used to help doctors identify a range of diseases and the best treatments for those diseases based on the person's individualized case.

They've helped catch cancer in the early stages and diagnosed other chronic diseases that are hard to pinpoint.

The only problem this type of testing is often not covered by insurance, and patients are left holding the bill.

But a bill is moving through the state legislature right now that could change that.

Raymond Santana has more on what's in the bill and what it could mean for patients who need it the most.

I thought, you know, I'd get a little short of breath at the gym.

I'm getting old, you know, It's just the way it is.

I went for just a routine physical, and I did a blood test on me and I got some abnormal results.

Regina Toomey Bueno was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the spring of 2021.

It's considered a rare cancer of the bone marrow.

While the cancer is slow moving, Bueno says, without effective treatment could become a life or death situation.

Bueno says she avoided undergoing a complicated medical procedure and instead received the right targeted therapy thanks to biomarker testing.

The procedure is used to analyze samples of blood tissue and other bodily fluids to identify specific genes, proteins and more that can indicate the presence or likelihood of various cancers and other diseases.

What biomarker testing does is identifies what that underlying gene is and based on that, there might be chemotherapies that they know won't work at all.

There might be, you know, maybe it will respond to radiation, maybe it won't respond to radiation.

Maybe we can just do surgery and not do anything else, because this is a very localized not aggressive cancer.

That's why she testified in support of biomarker testing being covered by insurance.

Since currently here in New Jersey, patients are not guaranteed to be covered.

And Bueno knows firsthand what it's like to have to shell out cash for the testing procedure.

My payments from my insurance company have varied, and it's the same insurance company the whole time.

So.

So the first time they partially pay it for it, they the second time they paid a little bit less.

The third time they paid a little bit less than that.

And the last time I had it, they denied it completely.

And now I'm trying to fight that.

Under the bill, which is sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal, health insurers would be required to cover biomarker testing for patients when it's supported by medical and scientific evidence.

Removing Financial Barriers.

Gopal released a statement saying insurance coverage must keep pace with advances in cancer treatment and by requiring state regulated insurers, including Medicaid, to cover biomarker testing supported by medical and scientific evidence, we can improve health outcomes, avoid ineffective treatments and lower health care costs.

Some people have been denied it.

And, you know, it's like the doctors have to play sort of a guessing game.

People with rheumatoid arthritis could have negative tests that say, oh, you don't have rheumatoid.

But when they take a biomarker test, it's very obvious that there's stuff going on there.

Peggy Locker, which was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis over 40 years ago and she credits biomarker testing with connecting her to the treatment that alleviated her relentless pain.

I was suffering.

I literally had to stop my my career as a teacher.

I couldn't.

I could no longer do that.

Biomarker testing really showed a medicine that would probably work better.

The treatment has worked well for me and for the past ten years.

Really, there's been no progression in the disease, which when you have a chronic disease, means the world.

I mean, my quality of life is just so much better now.

Lockwood says biomarker testing extends past cancer care and could be an important tool for those dealing with chronic pain.

Biomarker testing is important to a lot of different, particularly autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular sclerosis.

The bill passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee with unanimous support.

The Assembly bill now goes to the full chamber for a vote.

On the Senate side, the Budget and Appropriations Committee will consider the bill before sending it to a full chamber as well.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.