ACS CAN Policy Brief: Multi-Cancer Early Detection Tests

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Equal Access to This Simple Blood Test Could Change How Millions of Medicare Recipients Fight Cancer


Issue Overview

Multi-Cancer Early Detection Tests (MCEDs) are simple blood tests that can screen for many types of cancer at once. Congress must seize the opportunity to ensure these cutting-edge tests can be covered under Medicare once they are FDA-approved and proven to have clinical benefit. Doing so has the potential to save lives and revolutionize the way we detect cancer.


A simple blood sample equals a test for many types of cancers

 

What We Know:

About 70%

of all cancer deaths come from cancers for which there are currently no proven screening tests. 

57%

of people diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. are 65 and older. 


MCEDs have the potential to catch cancer, including types without current screening methods, before the disease advances. Medicare beneficiaries cannot experience unacceptable delays in access to this innovative prevention technology.

 

Early Cancer Detection: Potential Game Changer.


 

Improve patient outcomes

When caught early, cancer can often be easier to manage and the treatments can be less intense, invasive, and expensive.

Address cancer disparities

A simple blood test is more accessible to patients, which can extend screening opportunities to traditionally underserved communities where disparities in cancer mortality persist.

Expand screening methods for rare cancers

MCEDs are designed to detect early-stage cancers, including rare ones for which there are currently no screening guidelines.

What’s Needed

Congress must support a pathway to Medicare coverage for MCEDs once FDA-approved and clinical benefits are shown. Let’s lay the groundwork now. We can’t afford to lose another minute or risk a single life in the fight against cancer.