While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated 80% of health outcomes are determined beyond clinic walls. This includes health outcomes like cancer mortality rates due to social determinants of health such as where you live, how much money you make, and your physical and social environment.
This is why major health care institutions like the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians have recognized voting as a social determinant of health. At ACS CAN, we’re also committed to making sure that our volunteers and supporters are aware of the connection between voting and health—and feel empowered to do something about it!
Improving health outcomes through civic engagement
Did you know there is a connection between voter participation and health outcomes? For example, overall health is associated with higher voter participation, and communities with higher voting rates are safer, demonstrated by less violence and greater economic resources. Every day, lawmakers at every level of government play a critical role in leading policy changes that are vital to the fight against cancer. These policy decisions stand at the very core of many barriers people face during their cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Whether it’s voting to support lifesaving cancer research or access to health care and cancer screenings, ACS CAN volunteers know what’s at stake and are working to make cancer issues a top priority this election season. It’s more important than ever that cancer patients, survivors, their families, and health care providers communicate these challenges as voters.
Voting as a form of cancer advocacy
Here’s the reality: there are 72 million unregistered eligible voters in the U.S. Many in this group are from communities that have been historically excluded and underserved by the health care system and face significantly higher rates of breast cancer mortality, cervical cancer incidence, liver cancer incidence and mortality, among others. To help address this, ACS CAN is calling on our volunteers, supporters and partners to register to vote—and to join us in taking the next step by asking our colleagues, friends, family, patients, and communities to also register to vote.
To spread the word, we’re partnering with Vot-ER for National Patient Advocacy Day on August 19. Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works across the health care universe, engaging doctors, nurses, community health centers, and community health workers in nonpartisan voter registration and voter turnout efforts, ensuring that health care providers AND their patients have a voice in elections.
As ACS CAN volunteers, you already serve as steadfast patient advocates, supporting those with cancer as they navigate cancer care and health policies. Voting is yet another deeply powerful way to champion the needs of patients and survivors by communicating to lawmakers what change is needed and what policies must be enacted and protected. Voting gives us the agency to tell those running for office that our voices and our health matter.
Join ACS CAN and Vot-ER on National Patient Advocacy Day as we collectively make sure that health care providers and patients are registered to vote. Together, we can create healthier communities and reduce the cancer burden.
Make sure you’re registered to vote!