Federal Update
The House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (L/HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2013 annual appropriations bill Wednesday. The bill defunds most Affordable Care Act (ACA) programs, including state grants that will assist states with establishing marketplaces where people can shop and compare options for quality coverage, and funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The House of Representatives made similar cuts in the L/HHS bill last year to ACA programs. However, the Senate retained funding for ACA in their bill, and funding was restored in the final omnibus appropriations bill at the end of the year.
Read the ACS CAN press release: Click Here
State Update
This week, HHS announced a revised schedule for its four regional public forums in August that will give local and state stakeholders an opportunity to hear updates on exchange implementation, and to ask questions of agency officials. We expect that there will be many questions concerning not only the state exchanges, but also the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling on Medicaid expansion and its implication for the states.
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The dates and locations of the public forums are August 14, in Washington, DC, August 15, in Atlanta, GA August 21, in Chicago, IL and August 22, in Denver, CO. ACS CAN plans to have representatives at all four meetings.
More information about these public forums can be found in the attachment below.
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Media and Polling
Health care coverage for women on path to improvement by 2014 under Affordable Care Act
A recent report issued by The Commonwealth Fund found that an estimated 18.7 million U.S. women ages 19 to 64 were uninsured in 2010, and an additional 16.7 million women had such high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income that they were effectively underinsured. By 2014, the Affordable Care Act will reduce health care costs for all U.S. women by expanding and improving health coverage, including access to preventive services such as breast and cervical cancer screenings without cost-sharing. The Commonwealth Fund expects improved coverage will reduce the percentage of uninsured women from 20 percent to 8 percent.
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families.
Chris Hansen | President
ACS Cancer Action Network | American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.