To quote John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN, today will go down as one of the most important days in the history of the fight against cancer in this country. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. In doing so, the Court upheld numerous provisions that are critical to ensuring that people with cancer and other life-threatening chronic diseases can access quality, affordable health care. These include provisions that:
A lot of the discussion today has focused on the political implications of the Supreme Court's decision. But that is not our concern. Our concern is the welfare of cancer patients and survivors, who can feel secure knowing that they will no longer be denied coverage, charged unaffordable rates for care, or forced to spend their savings to get the treatment they need, just because they live with a preexisting condition. Now that we have this clarity, it is more important than ever for our elected officials to work together in a bipartisan effort to implement this law as strongly as possible for cancer patients, survivors and their families. ACS CAN will be hard at work in each state to ensure that the law provides every cancer patient and survivor with access to the health care they need. *Image retrieved from: http://bit.ly/OAVW57
The true costs of cancer are heavy, they are deep, and they are ultimately unaffordable for many, a challenge further exacerbated by this year’s COVID-19 pandemic and spotlighted by the upcoming Supreme Court case challenging the Affordable Care Act.