Yesterday was an incredible day at ACS CAN we held our first-ever National Forum on the Future of Health Care and it was a huge success! The conference focused on how to ensure that people living with cancer and other chronic diseases have access to quality health care.
I had the privilege of participating in an ACS CAN event in Seattle yesterday that really illustrated the importance of federal funding for cancer research. We partnered with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to emphasize that research funding doesn't just fight cancer, it pours money back into local economies and creates jobs.
As the second anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) approaches, we decided it was a good time to check in with the call center specialists at the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) to ask them how one aspect of the law the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Programs (PCIPs) is impacting people with cancer.
Big Tobacco is about to meet a challenge in the state of California. Yesterday, ACS CAN CEO Dr. John Seffrin announced a pledge to support California's Proposition 29, the California Cancer Research Act, an historic ballot initiative that would make California the second largest funder of cancer research after the U.S. federal government.
The President released his Fiscal Year 2013 budget yesterday, and I was deeply disappointed to see that his proposal cut funding for cancer research. This comes just weeks after the President specifically highlighted the importance of cancer research in his State of the Union address.
Yesterday's health policy news out of Washington is something to celebrate! The administration released its final rule late yesterday morning on an important provision in the Affordable Care Act, known as the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) provision.
ACS CAN is excited to commemorate the day by lighting our Twitter account and engaging our social networks in a conversation about how they can join the fight against cancer. What will you do to mark World Cancer Day?
Cancer patients and their loved ones from across the nation will gather to watch the address in a live online chat tonight, sending a message to the White House and Congress that funding for medical research and proven prevention programs must be a national priority.
We are already well into January, but I couldn't let the month pass by without acknowledging a very important event -- National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. This year, an estimated 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,200 women will die from the disease in this country.
As we observe Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, we should consider his inspiring statement when he said that "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are we doing for others?'" Dr. King's work impacted millions of Americans.