WASHINGTON, D.C. -- February 4, 2008 -- “In his final budget proposal, President Bush once again has proposed to fund cancer research and prevention programs at levels that are wholly inadequate to wage an effective war on cancer, which killed an estimated 560,000 people in America last year.
“The President’s proposed funding levels could threaten our progress against the disease Americans fear most. His proposal includes $28.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $4.8 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), funding levels that would mean a sixth straight year of flat funding for medical research. With the costs of research rising nearly 4 percent annually, stagnant funding forces dangerous cutbacks in new investigations and clinical trials that could yield lifesaving results.
“The President’s budget cut essential health services by proposing $301.7 million for cancer prevention and early detection programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) an $8 million reduction in funding from FY08. CDC programs such as the valuable, lifesaving National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program received no additional funding. The program provides essential breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnosis to low-income, uninsured and underinsured women, though it currently serves a mere fraction of the women who are eligible to receive the services.
“The President’s budget also eliminates funding for the Patient Navigator, Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Program, a demonstration program that reaches out to medically underserved communities to encourage prevention and early detection and provides key assistance to patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. The President signed the Patient Navigator bill into law in 2005, and it’s time he kept faith with Americans who suffer from chronic diseases by supporting full funding for the program.
“Death rates from cancer have been dropping since 1991, and more Americans than ever are surviving cancer. But we risk reversing that progress if the federal government does not meet its obligation to fully invest in cancer research and programs that help people prevent and detect cancer early.
“Progress against cancer is also threatened by the broken health care system. Recent studies from the American Cancer Society, the sister charitable organization of ACS CAN, show that people without health insurance are more likely than those with insurance to be diagnosed with cancer at its more serious stages, and are less likely to survive the disease. If we are to win the war on cancer, we must dramatically improve access to quality health care for the 47 million people in America who are uninsured and the untold millions more whose insurance is inadequate to cover a major diagnosis such as cancer.”
ACS CAN is the nonprofit, nonpartisan sister advocacy organization of the American Cancer Society, which is dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage lawmakers, candidates and government officials to support laws and policies that will make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Kat Porter
Phone: (202) 585-3202
Email: [email protected]
Steve Weiss
Phone: (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected]
