California Becomes #1 State in the Nation at Enacting Recommended Best Practice Policies Proven to Successfully Reduce Cancer Rates
Sacramento, Calif. – August 3, 2017 – With the tremendous advancements in new tobacco control laws in 2016, California is doing more than any other state in the country to meet cancer-fighting best practice policies as recommended by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).
According to the latest edition of ACS CAN’s How Do You Measure Up?: A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality, California measured up to policy recommendations in all but two of the nine issue areas ranked.
American Cancer Society and ACS CAN CEO Gary Reedy reached out directly to Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León and Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon to express appreciation for their leadership in helping to advance policies critical to reducing the cancer burden and serving as a model for other states. He also called on the state leaders to encourage further progress in reducing the cancer burden in the state.
The 15th edition of ACS CAN’s annual report shows just how far we’ve come in the last decade and a half passing policies proven to reduce suffering and death from cancer. But, cancer is still taking its toll. This year alone, 176,140 Californians will be diagnosed with cancer and nearly 60,000 will die from the disease.
“We owe it to them and everyone at risk of developing the disease to do what we know works to prevent cancer and improve access to screenings and treatment,” said ACS CAN California Managing Director Jim Knox.
How Do You Measure Up? rates states in nine specific areas of public policy that can help fight cancer. A color-coded system classifies how well a state is doing in each issue. Green shows that a state has adopted evidence-based policies and best practices; yellow indicates moderate movement toward the benchmark and red shows where states are falling short.
“For the first time, California shows solid green in every tobacco-control category,” said Knox. “This is a direct result of being able to triumph last year over Big Tobacco and its $210 million lobbying influence that previously squashed two ballot measures and 11 legislative attempts in the past decade to increase the tobacco tax. Voters had enough and overwhelmingly approved Proposition 56 last year, passing the highest single state tax increase ever levied on cigarettes in the nation.”
The successful tobacco tax initiative followed a historic package of tobacco control legislation signed into law that accomplished everything from raising the tobacco sales age to 21, classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products, closing loopholes in the state’s smoke-free workplace laws, making all K-12 schools tobacco-free and increasing licensing fees for tobacco retailers and distributors.
The only ranking in which California is “in the red” is access to palliative care. California lawmakers have a chance to improve access to palliative care by passing Senate Bill (SB) 294 this legislative session. Senator Ed Hernandez’s SB 294 updates the hospice agency licensing statute to allow hospice agencies to provide palliative care services to patients who are not in hospice and not facing a terminal illness.
“Palliative care is appropriate at any age and any stage of a disease,” said ACS CAN California State Lead Ambassador Jose Ramos. “It treats the whole person—not just the disease—by coordinating care to address physical and emotional needs like pain, anxiety and stress throughout diagnoses, treatment and survivorship of a serious disease like cancer.”
Palliative care not only improves patient outcomes, reduces hospital readmittances and increases patient and family satisfaction, it can save money. Studies conducted in a variety of states including New York and Texas found that providing palliative care alongside curative treatment in hospitals can reduce costs for patients and health systems. In fact, palliative care is estimated to save more than $2.5 million per year for the average academic medical center.
Coincidental to one of the country’s top policy priorities, the How Do You Measure Up? report also offers a blueprint for how states can work within the current federal health care law on a state-based approach to improving access to affordable and adequate health coverage for cancer patients and their families. It outlines opportunities to increase provider network adequacy, protect patients from surprise costs and increase access to care through the federal Medicaid program. California was a leader in this area when it broadened access to MediCal (state Medicaid program) that has resulted in nearly 4 million state residents gaining access to adequate and affordable health care coverage.
How California Measures Up:
Cigarette Tax Rates GREEN
Smoke-free Laws GREEN
Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program Funding GREEN
Medicaid Coverage of Tobacco Cessation Services GREEN
Indoor Tanning Device Use Restrictions GREEN
Increased Access to Medicaid GREEN
Pain Policy YELLOW
Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Funding GREEN
Access to Palliative Care RED
To view the complete report and details on California’s grades, visit www.fightcancer.org/measure.
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.