WASHINGTON – March 19, 2010 – The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) sent a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives today affirming that current draft health care reform legislation includes a number of provisions that would help to reduce cancer suffering and death in this country.
“After analyzing the legislation specifically through the eyes of cancer patients, survivors and their families, we believe its provisions will make far-reaching improvements to the nation’s health care system that will benefit millions of Americans,” the letter reads.
“Families affected by cancer know first-hand the gaps that exist in our broken ‘sick care’ system,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society. “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.”
ACS CAN’s analysis of the legislation shows that it would improve access to health care by ensuring the availability of adequate and affordable insurance coverage to nearly all Americans. Critical reforms would eliminate discrimination based on health status and preexisting conditions, and abolish arbitrary limits on annual and lifetime benefits, which have been so detrimental to cancer patients over the years.
The bill also would help to transform the system to focus more on prevention and early detection by requiring all insurance plans to provide coverage for essential, evidence-based preventive measures with no additional co-pays. ACS CAN believes the bill would go a long way toward reducing the disparities in prevention and treatment of cancer among low-income and minority populations through the expansion of Medicaid and inclusion of tax subsidies.
“The status quo is a costly proposition for cancer patients and their families who have been forced to delay or, worse, forgo lifesaving screenings and treatments,” said Robert E. Youle, a cancer survivor and volunteer chair of ACS CAN’s Board of Directors. “We need elected officials to put patients before politics and work to guarantee access to affordable, adequate health care for all Americans.”
This week, cancer advocates delivered more than 56,000 signed petitions to their Members of Congress, urging lawmakers from both political parties to seize this historic opportunity and pass meaningful health reform.
The letter 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.
For a copy of the letter, visit http://bit.ly/bCJiuF. 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 Steven Weiss
Phone: 202-661-5772 or 202-661-5711
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]