This week, I was invited to speak about the realities of Massachusetts's health care reform at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network's National Forum on the Future of Health Care in Washington, DC. Because our reform serves as the model for the Affordable Care Act, and because our experience is so often misrepresented in the public discourse, I welcomed the opportunity.
Yesterday was an incredible day at ACS CAN we held our first-ever National Forum on the Future of Health Care and it was a huge success! The conference focused on how to ensure that people living with cancer and other chronic diseases have access to quality health care.
I had the privilege of participating in an ACS CAN event in Seattle yesterday that really illustrated the importance of federal funding for cancer research. We partnered with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to emphasize that research funding doesn't just fight cancer, it pours money back into local economies and creates jobs.
As the second anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) approaches, we decided it was a good time to check in with the call center specialists at the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) to ask them how one aspect of the law the new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Programs (PCIPs) is impacting people with cancer.
Big Tobacco is about to meet a challenge in the state of California. Yesterday, ACS CAN CEO Dr. John Seffrin announced a pledge to support California's Proposition 29, the California Cancer Research Act, an historic ballot initiative that would make California the second largest funder of cancer research after the U.S. federal government.
The President released his Fiscal Year 2013 budget yesterday, and I was deeply disappointed to see that his proposal cut funding for cancer research. This comes just weeks after the President specifically highlighted the importance of cancer research in his State of the Union address.
Yesterday's health policy news out of Washington is something to celebrate! The administration released its final rule late yesterday morning on an important provision in the Affordable Care Act, known as the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) provision.
ACS CAN is excited to commemorate the day by lighting our Twitter account and engaging our social networks in a conversation about how they can join the fight against cancer. What will you do to mark World Cancer Day?
As a father, I know how attractive tanning beds can seem to youth who want tan skin all year round. My wife strongly discouraged my daughter while she was growing up from using tanning beds because she was concerned about her risk of getting skin cancer. That's why I was fully supportive and very excited about a historic new law California enacted this month that bans the use of tanning beds for those under 18.
I was excited by the news today that the USDA released new nutritional standards for school meals that have the potential to significantly improve the quality of the food our children are served at school.