Remove Hurdles to Cancer Care

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COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on the significant barriers to affordable health care that cancer patients have long faced. While relief packages and proposals to date have worked to address affordability of COVID-specific testing and treatment, policymakers must also tackle hurdles that cancer patients face like removing the red tape of prior authorization and step therapy, reducing out-of-pocket costs, and ensuring cost-sharing assistance directly benefits patients. There has been a great deal of research and investment in effective therapies that allow people fighting cancer to survive and live longer. Cancer patients need Congress to act quickly to remove hurdles to quality care.

56% of cancer patients and survivors are worried about being able to afford their treatment

Latest Updates

April 21, 2025
North Dakota

BISMARCK, ND -– North Dakota legislators made strong moves against cancer this session, passing bills on prior authorization reform and co-pay accumulator adjustments. The last of those bills – House Bill 1216 – passed the ND Senate on Monday and awaits Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s signature. Advocates of the American Cancer

April 8, 2025
North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. -– Prior authorization reform legislation cleared the House on Tuesday and state cancer advocates look forward to the North Dakota State Senate concurring and Gov. Kelly Armstrong signing Senate Bill 2280 into law. For the more than 4,500 North Dakotans who will be diagnosed with cancer in 2025,

April 1, 2025
North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. –– A week after receiving a “do not pass” in committee, House Bill 1283 passed the full Senate on Monday behind strong Senate voices who took a stand on behalf of North Dakotans who might need additional breast cancer screenings beyond mammograms. HB 1283, sponsored by Rep. Karen

March 26, 2025
National

The U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services for Cancer Act of 2025. The legislation would reauthorize the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.

Remove Hurdles to Cancer Care Resources

Many cancer patients take multiple drugs as part of their treatment – often for many months or years. While drugs are not the only costly part of cancer treatment, finding ways to reduce these costs for patients and payers will significantly reduce the overall cost burden of cancer.

ACS CAN submitted comments on the Medicare Part C and D Rule.

For an individual with specific health care needs – like cancer patients and survivors – the drugs covered by a health plan and corresponding cost sharing for each drug is important information when choosing health insurance. However, to make an informed choice, formulary information must be disclosed to the individual.

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