WASHINGTON – March 1, 2010 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) has teamed up with groups representing patients, consumers, people of faith, and workers to urge lawmakers from both political parties to seize this historic opportunity and pass meaningful health reform. The petition drive will run for several weeks, giving Americans the ability to voice their support for a meaningful bill that improves access to health insurance coverage and lowers the costs of health care.
“Though the fight for health care reform has not been easy, we've come too far and accomplished too much to let this effort fail,” the petition reads. “Now is not the time to turn back. To our leaders in Congress, we say: Move forward and pass health care reform.”
“The status quo is a costly and potentially life-threatening proposition for cancer patients who will continue to have to make the unfair choice between their lives and their life savings,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “Elected officials need to put patients before politics and pass meaningful health care legislation now.”
ACS CAN has joined forces with Alpha Phi Alpha, Community Catalyst, Families USA, LIVESTRONG, National Partnership for Women and Families, PICO National Network and Service Employees International Union in the petition drive. In just the four days since the petition drive was launched more than 30,000 signatures have already been collected.
The petition is the latest step in an effort dating back to early 2006 when the volunteer and staff leadership of the American Cancer Society concluded that in order to reach nationwide goals for reducing suffering and death related to cancer, all Americans would need access to health care that is adequate, available, affordable and administratively simple. The decision was supported by published American Cancer Society scientific research showing that people who are uninsured are more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced cancer that is harder to treat and more difficult to survive than those with Access to Health Care.
As the leading voice of patients in the health care reform debate, ACS CAN, working to advance the lifesaving mission of the American Cancer Society, continues to work with a broad cross-section of stakeholders to build momentum for reform nationwide. Families affected by cancer need meaningful reform that will improve their care by refocusing the nation’s health care system to emphasize prevention, ending the practice of denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, limiting the cost burden on families by providing care that costs less and covers more, and emphasizing patients’ quality of life.
“Cancer patients and their families know first-hand the gaps that exist in our broken ‘sick care’ system,” said Robert E. Youle, a cancer survivor and volunteer chair of ACS CAN’s Board of Directors. “If we can make health care work for families affected by cancer, it should work for virtually anyone who suffers from a chronic disease.”
Once the petitions have been collected, the groups will deliver them to elected officials. For more information about ACS CAN’s efforts in support of health care reform, 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 www.fightcancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Havens or Steve Weiss
Phone: 202-661-5772 or 202-661-5711
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]