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Cancer Patients Need Paid Time Off During Treatment

... all cancer patients, survivors and caregivers who work have access to paid leave, and without it they risk losing employment or not getting the care they need.  New York made history when it enacted the Paid Family Leave program in 2016. The program was built on the state’s decades-old ... loved one, or address the impact of military deployment, TDI is the program New Yorkers rely on when they need to take care of their own serious health needs.  When PFL was passed in 2016, it guaranteed New Yorkers 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave at 67% of their wages -- up to ... That's why it is so important to give employees the right to take a few hours or days of leave at a time, if necessary, for their own serious health conditions or to care for family members with serious health conditions.  A nationwide survey of cancer patients showed that of those ...

Insufficient Coverage and Higher Costs Likely Under Short-Term Plan Rule

Washington, D.C., August 1, 2018— Today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor and Department of Treasury issued a final rule governing the extension of short-term ... coverage these bare bones plans don’t include. These new expanded short-term plans can deny or charge people more for coverage based on their health status, and are exempt from covering essential health services, like prescription drugs or hospitalization. The new plans can also charge ... rule is new, its likely impact on the health insurance market is familiar. Prior to 2014, similar plans aimed solely at lowering monthly health care costs were widely available and cancer patients, survivors and others with a history of serious illness often found it impossible to get ...

Patient and Caregiver Groups Press Congress to Preserve Paid Family and Medical Leave in Reconciliation Package

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 12, 2021 —More than 20 patient and health care groups sent a letter to Congressional leadership and the Administration today making clear the need to preserve the nation’s first-ever ... to have access to it.   “Our organizations have long fought to ensure that patients have access to care to treat their serious illnesses and health conditions. Being able to take time off work is fundamentally an access to care issue, and our current patchwork system of paid and unpaid ...

Advocates Set Sights on Improving Access to Cancer Prevention & Detection, Reducing Burden of Disease for PA Patients in 2025

... patients. Beginning in the new year, Act 39 of 2024 will make it so that all patients who can benefit and are insured through a state-regulated health plan will receive coverage for biomarker testing, a game changer in the fight against cancer and an essential step in accessing precision medicine treatments. Pennsylvanians also secured a victory for access to care through Act 42 of 2024, the newly enacted legislation that includes telemedicine as a covered benefit in the Commonwealth. “This legislative ... so that a person’s economic status does not determine whether or not they have the ability to detect and survive cancer. “Soaring health care costs have made it so that patients are forced to take on medical debt and suffer through its cascading effects in order to receive ...

The Costs of Cancer Report

... on the costs of cancer for patients in active cancer treatment as well as survivors. It examines the factors contributing to the cost of cancer care, the types of direct costs patients face, and other costs and hardships associated with cancer. To more fully illustrate what people with cancer actually pay for care, the report presents profiles of several typical cancer patients and shows what they paid when they had different types of insurance ... coverage.  The report presents public policy recommendations for making cancer treatments more affordable for patients, survivors and the health care system as a whole. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is making cancer – and the affordability of cancer ...

New Report: States Spend Less Than Two Percent of Tobacco Revenues to Fight Tobacco Use

... $459.5 million -- on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health organizations. This means the states are spending less than two pennies of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use. Most states ... kills more than 400,000 Americans each year and is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. As the nation implements the health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, the report warns that states are missing a golden opportunity to reduce tobacco-related health care ...

Survey: More than 80 Percent of Cancer Patients and Survivors Say Copay Assistance Programs Help Them Afford Their Prescription Drugs

... shows that while copay assistance programs can help cancer patients afford the medications they need, some aren’t able to apply them to their health insurance deductible or other out-of-pocket requirements, which can create a barrier to care.  An overwhelming majority of respondents (83%) who have applied to a copay assistance program and were accepted say the assistance enables ... than a quarter (27%) of respondents who enrolled in a copay assistance program report that the assistance they received was not applied to their health insurance deductible or other out-of-pocket cost requirements.  “Everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat ...

Cancer Advocates Urge Lawmakers to Support Improving Virginians’ Access to Lifesaving Medication

... Bill 376/House Bill 946, which seeks to improve Virginians’ access to lifesaving medication. Currently in Virginia, many residents maintain health coverage that does not offer an option for affordable, flat-dollar prescription drug copays, leaving countless Virginians with co-insurance ... to Richmond from Ivanhoe to stand alongside her fellow survivors in calling on lawmakers to improve their constituents’ access to lifesaving care. “My family is no stranger to cancer; years before I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, we lost my grandmother to the same diagnosis,” ... for many Virginians who’ve forgone care to avoid strapping medical debt. No patient should have to choose between their physical and financial health.” Several states have already taken similar actions to reduce the out-of-pocket burden for patients—none of which have reported ...

Coalition: Governor’s Tobacco Tax Proposals are Good, but Kansas Deserves Better

... by $1 per pack and raise the tax on other tobacco products from 10 percent to 20 percent, a broad coalition of leading national, state and local health organizations issued the following statement: “The governor’s proposal to raise cigarette taxes by $1 per pack is a step in the right ... Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association of Kansas, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, and 17 other health organizations advocate for $1.50-per-pack cigarette tax increase and a parallel increase on other tobacco products. “The tax on other ... to successfully curb the use of all dangerous tobacco products. “Each year, Kansas spends more than $1.1 billion on tobacco-related health-care costs – $237.4 million coming directly from taxpayers through the state Medicaid program. A $1.50 tax increase on all tobacco products would ...

Cancer-Fighting Advocates Strongly Oppose Bill that Undermines Patient Protections

Pierre, S.D.  – The South Dakota Senate is considering Senate Bill 87 that will allow the sale of inadequate health plans that are exempt from state insurance regulation and that can avoid patient protections required by federal law. A statement from David ... of segmenting the insurance market, driving up premiums and making it harder for South Dakotans who live with serious or chronic disease to find health insurance. “When someone enrolls in health insurance, they expect their plan to provide coverage for necessary health care. Because these plans will not have to comply with requirements that limit out-of-pocket costs and may not provide coverage of essential health ...

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