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
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.
Now Available: New Patient-Focused Guide to the Affordable Care Act
A new consumer-friendly guide that describes how provisions of the Affordable Care Act help people with cancer and their families is now available on fightcancer.org. ACS CAN worked with Corporate Communications and Health Promotions staff at the National Home Office on the guide, which explains the Affordable Care Act through the “cancer lens.” The guide, which features the stories of real people who have battled cancer or helped loved ones fight the disease, discusses provisions of the law as they apply to the Society’s original “4 A’s” that define meaningful health coverage: adequacy, affordability, availability, and administrative simplicity.
The guide marks a significant step forward in our efforts to educate the public about the law and its benefits for cancer patients, survivors, and their families. The guide will also be posted onto the Society’s website, cancer.org, and print copies will be available to order through Ariba from the Society’s Nationwide Distribution Center by early December. In the meantime, please share the electronic version with staff, volunteers, and others who have an interest in learning more about the Affordable Care Act.
Public Opinion Remains Divided on Affordable Care Act
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest health tracking poll, released last week, shows that the public remains split over the Affordable Care Act, with 42 percent of respondents viewing the law favorably and 44 percent viewing it unfavorably. Among likely voters in Tuesday’s congressional elections, 39 percent hold a favorable view of the law and 49 percent hold an unfavorable view. Health care ranks as the third most important issue among likely voters, behind the economy and dissatisfaction with government.
Nearly half of respondents described themselves as being “confused” about the law, a finding that is consistent with other polls showing a low level of understanding of the Affordable Care Act. Polls have repeatedly shown that when Americans learn about specific provisions of the new law, such as the ban on pre-existing condition exclusions, the prohibitions on annual and lifetime benefit limits, and the guarantee of coverage of no-cost preventive care, public support rises sharply.
For example, a New York Times poll out today about voter attitudes toward the elections shows that 41 percent of respondents support repeal (45 percent want to let the law stand). But when told that repeal would mean that insurance companies could continue to deny care to people with pre-existing conditions, support for repeal drops to 25 percent.
Appropriations Update
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have each drafted FY 2011 appropriations bills for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. However, the bills have not been taken up by either chamber, and none of the FY 2011 appropriations bills have been voted on or signed into law. As a result, the federal government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that expires Dec. 3.
Congressional leadership, along with House and Senate Appropriations Committee chairs and ranking members, are currently negotiating a discretionary spending limit that would attract the 60 votes needed for an omnibus appropriations bill to pass the Senate. Depending on the outcome of these negotiations and the results of the upcoming congressional elections, a decision will be made in the next two weeks whether to extend the CR into next year, draft a year-long CR, or proceed with an attempt to pass an omnibus appropriations bill this year.
The President’s FY2011 budget request proposed a discretionary budget of $1.128 trillion. The House set a budget of $8 billion below the President’s proposal, and the Senate set its spending limit at $6 billion below the House. Congressional leadership is currently considering a discretionary spending level of $1.108 trillion, which is $20 billion less than the President’s proposed budget. At that spending level, proposed funding for cancer research and control programs are at risk of being cut. ACS CAN is actively engaged in efforts to protect the funding levels currently proposed for cancer research and control programs, and is calling on Congress to pass a FY 2011 omnibus appropriations bill this year instead of resorting to a continuing resolution.
The Prevention and Public Health Fund established under the Affordable Care Act provides an additional $750 million for public health and prevention programs in FY 2011. This funding does not come from the discretionary budget, so it is not impacted by efforts to cut the FY 2011 discretionary budget. The prevention fund supports community-based programs that make preventive services more accessible, including tobacco cessation services. Congress has the authority to determine how the $750 million should be spent, and has done so in the FY 2011 Labor and HHS Appropriations bills. Absent direction from Congress, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would allocate the $750 million.
Expansions to Community Health Centers
Earlier this week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that up to $335 million is being made available for existing community health centers across the country under the Expanded Services (ES) initiative. These funds are made possible by the Affordable Care Act and will increase access to preventive and primary health care, including tobacco cessation counseling, at existing health center sites. The Affordable Care Act also provides $11 billion in funding over the next five years for the operation, expansion, and construction of health centers throughout the nation. This expansion of sites and services will help community health centers serve nearly double the number of patients they do today, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
Read the HHS Press Release
Health Care and the Campaign - New York Times Editorial
A New York Times editorial last weekend addressed some of the most prominent myths about the Affordable Care Act being touted on the campaign trail, and aimed to give voters accurate information about the new law before they head to the polls. Read "Health Care and the Campaign"
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)