ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Medicare will now cover tests that screen for multiple types of cancer at once, under a new bipartisan law backed by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff.

The Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act (MCED) is designed to give seniors access to tests that can detect several cancers simultaneously. The goal is to identify disease earlier, giving older adults more treatment options.

The bill was signed into law on February 3 as part of bipartisan government funding legislation, according to Sen. Ossoff’s office.

“I’m always fighting for Georgia’s seniors and seniors’ health, and that’s why I cosponsored this bill to have Medicare cover these multicancer screening tests that can check for different kinds of cancer all at once to support early detection,” Sen. Ossoff said. “I’m pleased that this bill I cosponsored is now law.”

As more multi-cancer screening tests receive FDA approval, the law will allow Medicare to begin covering them for seniors starting in 2028.

The testing would generally be a “genomic sequencing blood test,” which analyzes cell-free nucleic acids.

MCED will not affect Medicare coverage for other cancer screenings for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, or prostate cancers.

You can read the full act here.

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