All Updates

ACS CAN Calls on the Governor to Sign Supplemental Appropriations to Fund Life-Saving Program

This week, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network submitted comments in a letter opposing several policies in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters proposed rule for plan year 2027.

The General Assembly has approved Senate Bill 161/House Bill 625, a bipartisan proposal to provide Virginians with the option to choose insurance plans with flat-dollar copays for prescription drugs. This would ensure that health plans do not solely rely on coinsurance models where patients are forced to pay a percentage of their medication’s cost. Leading patient advocacy organizations, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and Blood Cancer United (formerly The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society), applaud Virginia lawmakers for passing this critical legislation to ensure patients have affordable and predictable access to life-saving treatment. It now heads to Governor Spanberger’s desk, where over a dozen organizations across the Commonwealth are urging her signature.

West Virginia Lawmakers Can and Must Do Better Now to Protect West Virginians' Health

The one-house budget proposals revealed a clear divide in the Legislature’s approach to the equitable treatment of disease. The New York State Senate flatly rejected the governor’s proposal to roll back Medicaid coverage criteria for biomarker testing, heeding the calls of cancer survivors, patient advocates and public health organizations, like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). The Assembly took a more mixed approach accepting parts of the Governor’s proposed language while rejecting others.

Earlier today, cancer survivors, medical professionals and patient advocates from across Delaware convened in Dover at Legislative Hall as a part of ‘Delaware Advocacy Day.’ The main focus of Advocacy Day, which was hosted by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and the Alzheimer’s Association (ALZ), was for volunteers to connect directly with legislators and ask for their support of Senate Bill 120, a bipartisan proposal to improve Delawareans’ access to biomarker testing.

Earlier today, legislation was introduced in the New Jersey Assembly as a companion to Senate Bill 773, proposing to increase the state’s investment in the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research (NJCCR). Assembly Bill 4579 would establish a dedicated, non-lapsing investment in the amount of $10 million, utilizing a greater proportion of the state tobacco tax revenue to do so. With bills now moving in both chambers, survivors and advocates with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) are encouraged by the growing momentum to expand support for cancer research and accelerate lifesaving innovations.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is expressing strong disappointment with the final passage of HB 337, Nicotine Product Tax Amendments. Unfortunately, after relentless pressure from Big Tobacco, the state legislature compromised and voted to increase the cigarette tax by just 50 cents per pack, which will