A new state law requires health insurers to cover the cost of wigs for cancer patients.

Patty Acomb is a state lawmaker and a cancer survivor.  

“Fighting cancer is all-consuming,” she declares.

Acomb, a DFL state representative from Minnetonka, is now cancer-free after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.

But during six months of chemotherapy, her hair fell out. Wearing a quality wig, Acomb says, made all the difference.

“Because when you lose your hair and your eyebrows and your eyelashes, your face is kind of blank,” she explains. “You don’t feel like yourself.”

That’s why Emily Wyman is so pleased with a new state law, effective Jan. 1, requiring health insurers to cover the cost of wigs for cancer patients.

The Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, a nonprofit which funds cancer research and supports those impacted, connected 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS with Wyman.

“When I walk into a room wearing a wig, people don’t automatically go, ‘Oh, there’s the cancer girl,’” she says.

Wyman, 47, was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer in March.

She’s now in active treatment, including immunotherapy.

Wyman says she paid $3,100 for a wig out of her own pocket and is excited about the new law.  

“Like you catch quick glimpses of yourself in the mirror and it’s like there’s hair,” she notes. “It feels like such a small thing when you say it, but it doesn’t feel like a small thing when you notice it.”

Current state law requires that health insurance providers cover alopecia areata, a common type of hair loss.

The new measure would provide for cancer patients with a maximum annual payment of $1,000.

Rep. Ginny Klevorn sponsored the House version.

“A hair prosthesis could cost anywhere between $25 for a really cheap one or three to four thousand dollars for a very expensive human hair piece,” she explains.

Klevorn says the estimated cost will run about $185,000 the first year, but that could change.

Meanwhile, the American Cancer Society says by the end of 2024, about 38,000 Minnesotans will be diagnosed with cancer.

Both Wyman and Acomb say wearing a wig gives cancer patients confidence, makes them feel more like themselves and helps with healing.

A small bit of normalcy and a measure of hope.

“Anytime you can feel normal is one less minute you’re thinking about the fact you have cancer and this hard battle you’re in,” Acomb says.

You can find out more about the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance here.