Reducing Health Disparities

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Cancer impacts everyone, but it doesn’t impact everyone equally. We are working to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer. No one should be disadvantaged in their fight against cancer because of how much money they make, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their disability status, or where they live.

From ensuring greater diversity among clinical trial participants to improving access to quality, affordable health care, we are asking lawmakers to reduce disparities in cancer care by advancing policies that break down existing barriers.

Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women overall

Latest Updates

March 19, 2025
Vermont

Survivors and oncology professionals share their stories with lawmakers to underscore the importance of insurance coverage of cutting-edge biomarker testing

March 19, 2025
Connecticut

Insurance coverage of biomarker testing will reduce health disparities for cancer patients & improve outcomes across broad spectrum of serious disease

March 6, 2025
New Hampshire

Lawmakers asked to reduce barriers to care and reduce prescription related costs

February 13, 2025
National

Today, the Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representatives Neal Dunn, M.D. (R-FL) and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) with Representatives Greg Murphy (R-NC) and Troy Carter (D-LA) as cosponsors.

Reducing Health Disparities Resources

Prescription drug costs are a significant burden on cancer patients and survivors, sometimes even leading patients to miss or delay taking prescribed medications. The latest Survivor Views survey explores the role copay assistance programs can play in reducing this burden, and also addresses patient navigation and digital therapeutics.

ACS CAN submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the Diversity Plans To Improve Enrollment of Participants From Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Populations in Clinical Trials Draft Guidance for Industry. 

ACS CAN and more than 150 organizations representing patients, providers and health equity advocates sent a letter to Congress urging them to pass the Diversifying Investigations Via Equitable Research Studies for Everyone (DIVERSE) Trials Act into law to remove barriers to clinical trial enrollment.