Cancer CANdor Blog

If there was ever a time to recognize the necessity of expanding access to meaningful health coverage, it’s now.

Our new educational campaign, Medicaid Covers US, aims to drive a deeper conversation about Medicaid and health care in our country.

Voters made it clear that health care was a defining issue in this election, and that they consider fighting cancer and preserving and expanding access to health care top priorities.

The Maine Legislature passed and delivered bills to expand access to health coverage via Medicaid to Governor Paul Le Page five times over the last several years, only to be thwarted by a veto with each attempt. On this past Election Day, Maine voters finally had their say on the issue and overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of increasing access to affordable health coverage for low-income people in their state. The final vote on Maine’s Question 2 was 59 percent for expansion, clearly indicating that residents were in support of the idea.

According to a new edition of the ACS CAN report How Do You Measure Up? released today, most state legislatures are missing opportunities to enact laws and policies that could not only save lives, but also generate new revenue and long-term health care savings.

The Affordable Care Act ensures that most women can receive mammograms at little or no cost starting at age 40, but there are still millions of low-income, uninsured women nationwide with no access to mammograms or other lifesaving cancer screenings.

A recent White House report found that millions of uninsured Americans continue to lack access to health care coverage because a number of state lawmakers and/or governors have chosen not to broaden access to Medicaid.

Unfortunately, for most of you the answer to the question above is Š—“not well.Š— According to a new edition of the ACS CAN report How Do You Measure Up? released today, many state legislatures are missing opportunities to enact laws and policies that could not only generate new revenue and long-term health savings, but also save lives.

A new edition of the ACS CAN report How Do You Measure Up? shows that the majority of states are not measuring up on legislative solutions to prevent and fight cancer. The report ranks where states stand on these issues that play a critical role in reducing cancer incidence and death. It measures seven specific issues.