Site Search

Overview: The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) empowers advocates across the country to make their voices heard and influence evidence-based public policy change, as well as legislative and regulatory solutions that will reduce the cancer burden. As part of this effort, ACS CAN deploys surveys to better understand cancer patient and survivor experiences and perspectives, through our Survivor Views research panel. The panel is a group of cancer patients and survivors who respond to regular surveys and provide important insights to support ACS CAN’s advocacy work at all levels ...

Current federal law provides life-saving coverage of cancer prevention and early detection services and programs.  These provisions are crucial to reducing the incidence and impact of cancer in ... Required coverage of preventive services and vaccines :  Most private insurance and Medicaid expansion plans are required to cover, without cost-sharing, clinical preventive services given an ‘A’ or ‘B’ rating by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) as well as ... including cancer, costs about $190 billion in healthcare expenditures each year in the U.S. [v] The good news is that half of all cancer deaths can be prevented and the substantial cost of the treatment of advanced disease could be reduced through the use of existing evidence-based ...

... lifeline to accessing treatment. And while the ACA ushered in important consumer protections, particularly for cancer patients who require high-cost care, patients continue to face high out-of-pocket costs and hurdles to obtaining recommended treatments. Financial Navigators are hospital or health-system staff that work with cancer ... patients. While the annual limit on out-of-pocket costs provides security to patients against catastrophic costs, meeting that limit annually can take a financial toll. Even with the help of a Financial Navigator, it’s difficult to get information on what a patient can expect to pay ...

... savings accounts (HSAs) are becoming more common in employer-sponsored insurance and the individual and small group markets.  These types of plans have risks and features must be implemented carefully so they do not harm cancer patients, survivors or those at risk for cancer. What is ... have lower premiums – the enrollee’s monthly bill – the plans have higher deductibles and enrollees often pay a much higher share of the cost for health care services.  Shopping by premium alone can result in large out-of-pocket costs in HDHPs. The IRS defines a HDHP as any plan with a deductible of at least $1,400 for an individual or ...