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Note: This update will also cover the House of Representatives passage today of the FY10 Labor-HHS Appropriations legislation which provides funding for National Institutes of Health, the ... including coalition efforts, grassroots activities, direct lobbying to both congress and the administration, and media advocacy efforts, ACS CAN continues to work very aggressively in support of the policy changes that are so important to cancer patients and their families.  Key actions ... as the House Tri-Committee bill.  The prevention provisions in the HELP and House Tri-Committee bills include: Requiring coverage and reducing cost-sharing for evidence-based clinical prevention services in government and private insurance plans, including the elimination of cost-sharing ...

CANCER VOTES Presidential Voter Guide President Obama and Governor Romney responded to ACS CAN's presidential questionnaire. Read the voter guide. Chris Hansen recently promoted the guides and other Cancer Votes activities in a series of local radio and television interviews aired across the country. Read the ACS CAN press release.   Presidential Debates Cancer Votes volunteers ... Read the Kaiser Health News story.   After the election, HHS is expected to release multiple proposed regulations, including those for EHB and cost sharing. It is unclear at this time how much discretion states or insurers will have to make changes to the benchmark plan, such as how and ...

...   House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a FY2012 budget resolution this week that includes severe cuts to several areas of critical importance to people with cancer, including Medicare, Medicaid, medical research, and disease prevention programs.   The resolution ... House Budget Committee approved the resolution Wednesday, and the full House will likely debate it next week. As many of you already know, ACS CAN is encouraging its grassroots advocates nationwide to contact their lawmakers in opposition to provisions that would cut and restructure ... discourage individuals and families from purchasing coverage through state-based exchanges for fear that getting a promotion or a new job might cost them thousands of dollars. ACS CAN supported an amendment offered by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that would have mitigated the impact on ...

In the States   As we previously noted in this space, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has tasked each state with defining an essential health benefits (EHB) package that will cover 10 broad ... market.  If a state fails to select a plan by September 30, the EHB benchmark defaults to the largest small-group plan in the state.   ACS CAN and several other consumer groups have created a survey tool to identify what benefits are actually covered in some of the potential state ... list, but rather a sampling of the most commonly used services across the 10 EHB categories HHS mandates. Also, we are not asking for any cost-sharing information such as co-insurance, co-pays and deductibles as those issues will be addressed through separate HHS regulations.   The ...