IMPROVED BREAST CANCER POLICY URGED\Marrow-transplant coverage at issue.

Byline: Susan Goldsmith Daily News Staff Writer

State Controller Kathleen Connell proposed sweeping changes Wednesday to require the state's health insurance provider to pay for bone marrow transplants for state workers and retirees fighting breast cancer.

At a press conference at UCLA's Bowyer Cancer Treatment Center, Connell said the state's Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) routinely denies requests from state workers for the $70,000-to-$100,000 bone marrow transplant.

"If your mother had breast cancer, or your sister, or daughter or wife, you'd want them to be able to fight as hard as they could with every possible weapon," Connell said. "But if your mother or sister or daughter were getting their health insurance from the state retirement system, they'd not only be fighting cancer, they'd be fighting the insurance companies."

Connell - the only woman on the 13-member PERS board - has put the matter on the Feb. 21 agenda.

Pat Macht, a PERS spokeswoman, said the state has not routinely paid for the procedure in the past because "the medical community had not determined whether this treatment is effective."

She said PERS' Health Benefits Committee will review Connell's request to determine its feasibility.

Macht also said PERS has funded the treatment in the past.

"We have given some treatments," she said. "We also have an appeals process when a patient is denied treatment."

Dr. John Glaspy, an oncologist and the medical director of UCLA's Bowyer Cancer Treatment Center, acknowledged that bone marrow treatment is not appropriate for many breast cancer cases. But, he added, it is effective under certain circumstances.

"Do we know everything there is to know about this treatment? No," Glaspy said.

"But I believe there are some women with breast cancer for whom high dose therapy should be viewed as a reasonable treatment option."