WASHINGTON, D.C. -- July 6, 2009 -- The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is ramping up the pressure on Congress with the launch of a Metro station advertising campaign calling for action now, not later, on health care reform. Throughout the month of July, every inch of advertising space in the Capitol South Metro station, the main Metro stop for commuting House staffers, will be saturated with ads that highlight the personal and financial toll that cancer patients face due to gaps in the broken health care system.
The effort builds on ACS CAN’s ongoing print and online ad campaign around the message that the current “sick care” system leaves millions of Americans without access to lifesaving cancer screenings and treatments, and that the cost of waiting until later to take action, measured in lives lost, is too high.
“As the health care debate heats up, our ongoing campaign in support of comprehensive health care reform will compel voters to envision what would happen to them if they had cancer and lacked access to quality, affordable coverage,” said Daniel E. Smith, president of ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “By taking over a Capitol Hill Metro station, we intend to drive home our message that Congress needs to take action to reform the current health care system now, not later.”
The ads, which emphasize the importance of lifesaving cancer prevention and early detection screenings, will be featured on the station floors, ceilings and pillars. One of the dioramas features a married couple and reads, “Now, doctors can catch his cancer in time to save his life. Later, she could be paying off the medical debt for the rest of hers.”
“We know that 60 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented, yet too many Americans are foregoing or delaying recommended preventative services due to cost,” said Robert E. Youle, volunteer chair of the ACS CAN board of directors. “Congress and the President need to fix the broken health care system so that a chronic disease such as cancer can be caught early when it is less expensive to treat and chances of survival are greater.”
In addition to the Capitol South takeover, several trains on Metro’s Red Line, which runs through the Union Station stop used by many Senate staffers, will be shrink-wrapped throughout the month with the “Action: Now Not Later” message and will feature interior advertising on car cards and train headliners. Also beginning this month, ACS CAN is running rich media advertisement on Hill publication Web sites in which several of its patient advocates tell their own stories of how they have been personally and financially affected by a cancer diagnosis and the difficulties they have encountered in the health insurance system. To view the full video, visit https://www.fightcancer.org/.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit https://www.fightcancer.org/.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Havens
Phone: (202) 661-5772
Email: [email protected]
Audrey Pernik
Phone: (202) 661-5763
Email: [email protected]