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Broken Health Care System Fosters Treatment Delays and Strained Finances for Many Cancer Patients, According to New Poll
May 20, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- May 20, 2009 -- One in four people currently receiving cancer-related care has delayed treatment in the past year, and nearly one in three people under age 65 who have been diagnosed with cancer has been uninsured at some point since their diagnosis, according to a national poll released today by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).
The unique poll of families affected by cancer also found that more than 40 percent had trouble affording care in the past few years. More than one in five families has used up all or most of its savings and one in seven has incurred thousands of dollars in medical debt because of high health care costs.
The survey also found that two-thirds of Americans under age 65 diagnosed with cancer who searched for coverage outside the employer-based system could not find an affordable plan. The poll was conducted May 1-11 among 1,057 families affected by cancer nationwide by Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint.
"Lack of access to quality health care is standing in the way of our potential as a nation to defeat cancer, which kills an estimated 560,000 people in America each year," said John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “Families affected by cancer need Congress and the President to make health care reform a priority now, because the status quo is not an option."
Scientific research done by the Society has shown that lack of access to care can lead to later stage diagnoses, when cancer is more expensive to treat and harder to survive. Research has also shown that people with insurance have better chances of surviving cancer than people who are uninsured — even when the uninsured are diagnosed at earlier stages of the disease.
"Cancer patients are acutely aware of the holes that exist in our current 'sick care' system and are too often forced to delay or forego lifesaving screenings and treatments because of lack of access to critical care,” said Daniel E. Smith, president of ACS CAN. “If we can fix the health care system for cancer patients, we will fix it for virtually anyone who touches the system, including those who face a chronic disease diagnosis."
That's why ACS CAN is strongly pushing for health care reform this year. ACS CAN is the leading voice of patients in the health care reform debate, having worked with a broad cross-section of stakeholders for the past several years to build momentum for reform nationwide.
The poll results are being released on the same day that cancer patients and loved ones from across the country are on Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress and share their troubling stories of delayed care and debt as a result of inadequate and unaffordable health care coverage. The patients stood side by side with Congressional cancer survivors at a mid-day briefing in the U.S. Capitol to emphasize why families affected by cancer need action on health care reform now, not later.
The patient lobby day is the latest effort by ACS CAN to illustrate why cancer patients need a health care system fix that won’t force them to choose between saving their life and their life savings. ACS CAN has developed a set of specific policy priorities that are critical in any comprehensive health care reform plan that include:
Prevention — Transform our current "sick care" system to enhance the delivery of prevention services
Quality Coverage — Ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance that is adequate, affordable, available, and administratively simple
Quality of Life — Emphasize patient-centered care to reduce suffering and promote well-being during and after treatment
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 www.fightcancer.org.
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