Empowering patient voices through voter registration
While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
11-18-10 Affordable Care Act Update
November 19, 2010
Below is this week’s update on the Affordable Care Act. As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families
New Affordable Care Act Messaging Materials
ACS CAN has updated its message wheel and FAQ on the Affordable Care Act to reflect the important patient protections that are already in effect and those that will be taking effect in the coming months and years. The FAQ also talks more about the federal lawsuits challenging the law and how they could threaten the patient protections that ACS CAN and our advocacy volunteers across the country fought so hard for. Most of the messaging remains the same and reflects our singular focus on meaningfully improving the health care system for people with cancer and their families.
The message wheel and FAQ, which can be found in the Access to Care Community on The Link, can be shared with staff and lead volunteers but should not be distributed broadly to external audiences. The American Cancer Society's guide to how the Affordable Care Act is helping people with cancer, which was posted on cancer.org and fightcancer.org a few weeks ago, is intended for both internal and external use. Print copies should be available for order through Ariba in the next couple of weeks. To view on cancer.org, click here. To view on fightcancer.org, click here.
Impact on State Implementation
Since the November 2 elections a great deal of attention has been focused on potential attempts Congressional Republicans will make to repeal or defund provisions in the health care law. Equally important is how newly elected governors, state legislators, and insurance commissioners are approaching the new law given the enormous amount of implementation work that needs to occur at the state level. Below are a few articles that address the important role that state insurance regulators, state legislators and Governors will play in implementing the new law. Also attached is an article from Congressional Quarterly that ran just before Election Day on California’s experience as the only state to enact legislation to establish a state exchange since enactment of the Affordable Care Act.
Elections Generate Turnover Among State Insurance Regulators (Wall Street Journal)
Health Care Reform is States’ Headache (NPR)
New GOP Governors Will Affect Health Law (Washington Post)
States, Not Congress, Can Thwart Healthcare Law (Los Angeles Times)
With Newly-Elected Governors, GOP Gains Clout to Fight Health Reform Law (Kaiser Health News)
CQ_Lessons_from_the_California_Exchange_11.1.10.doc
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)