2025 Arkansas Legislative Priorities

2025 Arkansas Legislative Priorities

Victory in the fight against cancer requires bold new public policies that promote cancer prevention, early detection of cancer, and expand access to quality, affordable health care. Lawmakers make many decisions that impact the lives of Arkansas residents impacted by cancer and their leadership is vital to defeating this disease. In 2025 the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) will work with the Arkansas Legislature on legislative and regulatory efforts that provide affordable, adequate access to health insurance including Medicaid, ensure adequate appropriations funding for lifesaving cancer screening programs, and enact prevention policies that help people who use tobacco products quit and deter kids from ever using tobacco products. We will be making the following fact-based policies a priority and ask for your support:  

Ensuring Access to Quality Care 

• Medicaid Expansion: ACS CAN will advocate for low-income individuals and families to have access to health insurance coverage and non-emergent transportation services through state Medicaid programs. We will support policies that preserve funding and access to Medicaid for low-income parents and adults and will advocate for extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months.   

• Affordable, Adequate Health Insurance: ACS CAN will advocate for policies that ensure access to quality, affordable and comprehensive health insurance including Medicaid and will support efforts to curb the availability of inadequate health plans. 

• Genetic Testing Access: ACS CAN will advocate for policies that ensure access to clinically necessary genetic testing for cancer risk, without cost sharing.  

• Prescription Drug Transparency: ACS CAN will continue to support legislation that allows cancer patients and all health consumers to know which drugs are covered and what their out-of-pocket costs will be for those drugs before buying a health insurance plan.   

Cancer Prevention and Early Detection 

• Breast and Cervical Cancer: ACS CAN will advocate to increase funding to $5 million for BreastCare, the state breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment program for low-income uninsured and underinsured women administered by the Arkansas Department of Health. 

Reducing the Toll of Tobacco  

• Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Funding:  ACS CAN will work to protect funding for fact-based, statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs at $11.3 million. Protecting funding will allow the program to make continued progress in reducing rates of tobacco use in Arkansas and expand programs to address the growing use of e-cigarette products among young people.  

• Access to Tobacco Cessation: ACS CAN will advocate for all insurance plans, including the state Medicaid program, to provide a comprehensive cessation benefit that covers individual, group, and telephone counseling and all FDA-approved tobacco cessation medications without cost-sharing or other barriers to accessing care. 

Cancer Research Funding  

• Comprehensive Cancer Control Program Funding: ACS CAN will work to protect appropriations for state comprehensive cancer control programs.  

Local Control

• Local governments are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the people in their communities. ACS CAN supports their ability to pass laws that are proven to promote good health, well-being, and equality. Preserving local control is needed to pass innovative and proactive public health policies. ACS CAN works at the local, state, and federal levels; thus, it supports each level of government’s ability to implement policies for cleaner, safer, healthier communities. The right of local governments to pass public health policies stronger than state laws must be preserved to continue future advocacy efforts to reduce suffering and death from cancer. 

For more information, contact: Matt Glanville, Oklahoma and Arkansas Government Relations Director  

ACS CAN   

[email protected] Phone: 405.301.6311 

 
ACS CAN is making cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. ACS CAN empowers advocates across the country to make their voices heard and influence evidence-based public policy change as well as legislative and regulatory solutions that will reduce the cancer burden. As the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN is critical to the fight for a world without cancer. For more information, please visit www.fightcancer.org.