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Pandemic and Threat to Patient Protections Magnify the "Costs of Cancer"
Anyone who has heard the words, “You have cancer,” – or supported a loved one, a family member or a colleague who did – can attest to how devastating and life-altering a cancer diagnosis is. As a leading cause of death and disease in our country, cancer already bears an enormous toll on the personal lives and health of patients and survivors as well as on ... staggering this financial burden can be. In 2018, cancer patients paid $5.6 billion out of pocket for cancer treatments. Overall, the disease cost our country $183 billion in direct cancer-related health care spending in 2015—an amount that is projected to increase to $246 billion by ...
ACS CAN's Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Lobby Day
Today is the start of ACS CAN's signature annual event: our Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. We'll be welcoming more than 600 cancer patients, advocates, survivors, caregivers and their families from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district to Washington, D.C. for more than three days of training, events, keynote presentations and meetings with lawmakers. It's one of my favorite events of the year. Tuesday, advocates will ...
Lobby Day: Hundreds of ACS CAN Advocates Head to Nation’s Capital to Make Cancer a National Priority
This week marks one of my favorite times of the year, and an incredibly exciting time for ACS CAN staff and volunteers: ACS CAN’s annual Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. Nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones from across the country have traveled to ...
50 Years of Tobacco Control Drastically Reduces the Scourge of Tobacco
8 million. That's the number of lives saved due in large part to tobacco control efforts since the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health , according to a study ... report drew heavily from findings in the American Cancer Society-funded Hammond-Horn study, the first large-scale study that examined the effect of cigarette smoking on death rates from cancer and other diseases. In the 50 years since the release of the report, this country has made strides ... per pack, up 92 cents per pack since the end of 2002. With the progress we've made, we're winning the fight against tobacco. But, we can't rest on past progress. The tobacco industry continues to oppose proven tobacco control efforts, challenge tobacco control policies in ...
World Cancer Day 2016: We Can
... mortality from cancer and other non-communicable diseases. Despite this progress, what we are NOT seeing is a clear and tangible commitment of resources from the global health community. There is an egregious disparity between the tremendous burden of cancer and other NCDs and the ... causes of cancer, especially HPV and Hepatitis B; screening for treatable cancers, particularly cervical and breast; increasing access to cost-effective treatment; and diminishing suffering by improving access to essential pain medicines. What is missing is the global commitment of resources to implement these proven interventions. Consistent with the "We Can. I Can." theme of this year's WCD, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network joins the UICC in a united voice to say: WE CAN work ...
Can Tech Innovation Help End Cancer?
... I attended on Capitol Hill with IBM and MD Anderson about how technology innovation could help end cancer. Technology is changing every aspect of our lives, and in the field of medicine that is especially true in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. Technology allowed ... applying technology in unprecedented ways. Watson is a groundbreaking example of how the synthesis of big data into new forms of intelligence can teach us more about diseases, treatments and patients themselves. Watson has the potential to revolutionize oncology research with its ability ... and one that can be replicated by different doctors in similar patients wherever they are. The promise is better quality care and lower cost. A cognitive technology platform like Watson can hold that kind of potential. An estimated 1.6 million people in America will be diagnosed ...
Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Begins with Reintroduction of Medicare Loophole Bill
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, which gives us an opportunity to bring attention to one of the few cancers that can be completely prevented through screening. Not only have we discovered better and more effective treatments for colorectal cancer in the last ... 50,000 will die from the disease. Of those diagnosed this year, more than half will be seniors on Medicare. Currently, Medicare covers the full cost of routine colonoscopies, a screening and prevention tool used to find and remove precancerous polyps before they turn into cancer. However, ...
Guest Post: New Prevention Services Bring Peace-of-Mind
... friends, family, fellow advocates but last week's event in Washington, D.C. was an experience I will never forget. On Aug. 1, a set of requirements took effect that new private health plans cover specific women's preventive services at no cost to patients. The requirements were included in the Women's Preventive Health Care Amendment to the Affordable Care Act. This was incredible ... that you have cancer, but then you also have to worry about the insurance companies cutting you off. Without access to coverage, cancer patients can't get the care they need to fight for their lives. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I now have some peace-of-mind. I no longer have ...
New Study: 28 Percent of Adults Haven't Received Colorectal Cancer Screening
I was surprised by a CDC study I saw this week that found that in 2012 nearly 28 percent of U.S. adults had not received recommended colorectal cancer screenings. This is a scary statistic considering colon cancer is an easily ... cancer screening tests without any out-of-pocket costs beginning at age 50. This is important because evidence shows that even nominal cost-sharing can present a barrier to accessing preventative screenings. The administration has already issued guidance to health care providers that if a polyp ...
Can we get to 80% screening for colon cancer?
... is when I see that colon cancer will kill an estimated 50,000 people in the U.S. this year. Here's another critical fact: Colon cancer is one of only two cancers that can be completely prevented by screening. Unfortunately, more than 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. aged 50 and older have not gone for a colorectal ... the Affordable Care Act, which improves access by requiring most insurance plans to cover colorectal screening and to provide it at low or no cost to patients. Still, too few people are getting screened, which is why the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT), a national coalition ...