Congress yesterday took its final historic votes to repair the broken health care system, approving a package of improvements that strengthen the broad reform bill that President Obama signed into law this week. I had the privilege of being in Washington, D.C. with Society Board Chair George Atkins and National Volunteer President Alan Thorson to attend a celebration led by the president immediately after the bill signing. I kept thinking about people with cancer and their families across the country who will gain access to quality, affordable health care – in many cases for the first time – because of reform.
The enactment of meaningful health care reform represents a major step forward in the American Cancer Society’s years-long leadership to improve access to care nationwide. As we approach the "end of the beginning" of our long campaign, I took a moment to record a short video to personally express my heartfelt thanks to each of you for helping to make this effort successful.
By now you’ve heard about the critical role played by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in bringing the voice of cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers to the debate. I want to share an example of how ACS CAN’s efforts made a difference for one family touched by cancer.
Taylor Wilhite of Marblehead, Ohio was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in March 2007 at the age of 8. She received three rounds of chemotherapy, had a bone marrow transplant, and at one point was taking 23 pills a day in addition to IV medications. Her cancer went into remission, but the costs of her treatment bumped up against her insurance plan’s lifetime cap on benefits, leaving Taylor and her family struggling to pay for continuing care for the side effects of her treatment, which include problems with her heart and hip, short-term memory loss, steroid-induced diabetes, and a compromised immune system.
Now age 11, Taylor had few, if any, options for getting the critical care she still needs. Health care reform legislation, however, changes that. The new law eliminates lifetime caps on new insurance plans, and the improvements package passed yesterday extends the ban and other insurance protections to most existing plans. ACS CAN worked hard to include bans on annual and lifetime limits in the legislation and pressed to have the ban apply to both new and existing plans. Thanks to these efforts, people like Taylor Wilhite will feel secure knowing that coverage for critical care will not suddenly end because of arbitrary insurance caps.
The ban on lifetime limits will go into effect just six months after enactment of the law. Several other important provisions will take effect this year as well:
Ninety days after enactment, uninsured people with a pre-existing condition will be able to apply for coverage in high-risk pools in each state.
Six months after enactment:
o Health plans will be prohibited from placing lifetime caps on coverage, and annual limits will be tightly restricted to ensure access to needed care;
o Health plans will be prohibited from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions;
o Dependent children will be able to stay on their parent’s insurance policy up to age 26; and
o Health plans will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick.
The legislation, however, is not perfect. ACS CAN will be working to further strengthen the bill through additional legislation, and to urge that the law is implemented as effectively as possible for people with cancer and their families. But thanks to your efforts, Congress and the president have taken a major step toward strengthening the health care system for people with cancer and their families.
More information is available on the ACS CAN Web site. As always, thank you for all you do to help create a world where more birthdays for people like Taylor are becoming a reality.
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John R. Seffrin, PhD | Chief Executive Officer |
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American Cancer Society, Inc. | American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network |