Updates matching "Reducing Health Disparities"

As Congress works to determine 2024 priorities before the budget deadline at the end of the month, nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, and nearly every congressional district, will be on Capitol Hill this week to make clear to members of Congress that cancer must be a national priority.

Washington, D.C., September 14, 2023 – Bipartisan legislation that would eliminate financial barriers to prostate cancer screening was introduced in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Boozman (R-AR), the Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act would waive cost-sharing requirements for men with the highest risk of prostate cancer, focusing on Black men and those with a family history of the disease.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 4, 2023 – U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and U.S. Representative Kweisi Mfume (D-Md. 7th) recently announced the introduction of the Henrietta Lacks Congressional Gold Medal Act, legislation that would posthumously award Henrietta Lacks the Congressional Gold Medal for her substantial contributions to medicine.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Earlier this week, a new investigative report revealed that the federal government has been aware of the risks that radioactive waste posed to communities in St. Louis for 75 years. According to the report, the federal government’s response to the contamination

House Bill 1301 aimed to fund a multiethnic cohort study conducted by the University of Hawaii Cancer Center to understand the different factors contributing to higher incidence and mortality rates in certain cancers among certain groups in Hawaii.

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its proposed rules to eliminate menthol cigarettes and eliminate all flavors in cigars. Now, nearly one year later, the rules are still not final. This inaction has allowed Big Tobacco to continue targeting these products to the Black community, who consistently reports the highest prevalence of menthol cigarette use.

Today’s announcement of the National Cancer Plan is another exciting step toward advancing cancer research, prevention and treatment. The American Cancer Society (ACS) and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) , commit to working alongside the Moonshot Initiative to improve the lives of cancer patients and their families.

More than a dozen patient groups representing millions of Americans with serious and chronic health conditions are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to preserve protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) patients receiving health care services in the case of Neese vs. Becerra .

The PSA Screening for HIM Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 28, 2023. This bipartisan legislative proposal would waive cost-sharing requirements for men with the highest risk of prostate cancer, focusing on Black men and those with a family history of the disease.