Site Search

Share

X

Search Results

ACS CAN Letter: Proposed Changes to Medicare Drug Coverage Could Delay Cancer Patients’ Access to Treatment

 Washington, D.C.—Today the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) submitted comments to the Department Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing ways in which proposed changes to Medicare Part D’s six protected classes could jeopardize cancer ... – including step therapy and prior authorization – to limit access to protected class drug therapies. The comment letter details how cancer care often requires specialized treatment targeted at a patient’s specific tumor and that such treatments are rarely interchangeable. In ... “can lead to patients not filling their prescriptions or underutilizing medications. Prescription drug noncompliance can lead to poorer health outcomes for the beneficiary as well as increased costs to the Medicare program.” Additionally, the letter raises alarm about patient ...

Cancer Advocates Applaud Gov. Sisolak for Signing Critically Important Bill into Law that Addresses Youth E-cigarette Epidemic

... youth . “Taxing tobacco products is a proven way to decrease tobacco use and we know this tax will help/ed make a big difference in the public health epidemic now facing middle and high schools in Nevada. Raising the price of tobacco products reduces consumption while generating revenue ... Julia Ratti successfully convinced her fellow lawmakers to act to protect Nevada’s youth from tobacco addiction, saving lives and long-term health care costs, and we applaud Gov. Sisolak for signing the legislation into law.”     0 Cancer Advocates Applaud Gov. Sisolak for Signing ...

Cancer Prevention Protected, But Prostate Cancer Screening Bill Runs Out of Time

... payments accompanying his routine PSA screenings. With friends in his community facing a similar diagnosis, he has seen loved ones delay care simply because of cost.   “House Bill 712 would have enhanced health benefit plan coverage for prostate cancer detection tests by ensuring no cost-sharing, like copayments or deductibles, is charged for these services will greatly benefit the health outcomes of the 21,000 men in Texas that will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. Unfortunately, the legislation didn’t make it ...

Utah Cancer Survivors, Patients Call on Lawmakers to Raise State Tobacco Tax

... – Big Tobacco is not welcomed in the state. Currently, smoking is attributed to more than 15% of cancer deaths in Utah, $630 million in annual health care costs, and more than $135 million in Medicaid costs.  Big Tobacco spends more than $38 million a year marketing its products to Utahns, ... addicted  to these products. Supporting HB 337 is one way they can do just that.”  One of the best things states can do to improve public health, generate revenue and provide funding for critical unmet needs is to significantly increase tobacco taxes and invest in tobacco control ...

Cancer Patients and Survivors Travel to Atlanta During Recess to Urge Legislators to Increase State’s Tobacco Tax

... (ACS CAN) Day at the Capitol event. “As a cancer advocate, I let my lawmakers know that if we’re going to eliminate cancer as a major health problem in Georgia, a significant tobacco tax increase must be top of mind for our legislature,” shared ACS CAN Vice State Lead Ambassador Rev. Jill Henning. “It’s time our lawmakers make cancer a priority and fulfill their promise to ensure the health of Georgians. By raising our state’s low tobacco tax to $1.87 per cigarette pack, paralleled with a 39% tax on the wholesale price of all ... spent annually can be significantly reduced.  Increasing the cigarette tax to $1.87 per pack would provide $1.84 billion in long-term health care costs savings,” shared ACS CAN State Lead Ambassador and business owner Lee Turner, who traveled from Tifton. “Increasing the tobacco tax ...

American Cancer Society Responds to United States Senate's Demonstration of Support for Cancer Research and Programs

... Senate who voted to provide an additional $7 billion to the budget for Fiscal Year 2007, some of which will be used to increase funding for health programs. We would also like to recognize and thank Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) for ... amendment calls for the addition of $240 million to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), $4.6 million for the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and more than $117 million for cancer programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including ... every congressional district in the nation. Sens. Specter, Harkin, Feinstein, Mikulski and Collins have been longstanding advocates for health care and cancer. They and their colleagues’ actions yesterday place the Senate on the side of cancer patients, survivors and their families and ...

Expanding access to early detection would improve cancer survivorship. This is how

... some rare cancers. If clinical trials demonstrate benefit and the FDA approves, these types of tests would be an incredible asset in cancer care and have the potential to save countless lives. I am thrilled at the prospect that my patients — and those of my colleagues — might be ... all the more critical. This bill, which has received bipartisan support and co-sponsorship from 54 senators, would also give the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to cover new multi-cancer technology in the future, without the need for additional legislation. In focusing on this groundbreaking technology, policymakers in Washington signal to their constituents that early detection and patient health are priorities. As a practitioner in and resident of Delaware, I applaud Sen. Tom Carper and Sen. Chris Coons’ and Rep. Lisa Blunt ...

Time to Raise SD Tobacco Sales Age

... a few. •Tobacco use is a fiscal problem, even for people who don’t use tobacco. S.D. pays more than $373 million annually in tobacco-related health care costs and $282.5 million in lost work productivity. Each household is paying $782 in taxes to cover these tobacco-related costs, whether they ... including 1,300 South Dakotans. Raising the tobacco sales age promises to save lives, curb tobacco use and reduce tobacco-related disease and health care costs. California, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon and nearly 300 cities, counties and townships across the United States have taken ...

Broken Promises Report Shows Kids in New Mexico Hurt Following Raiding of Tobacco Settlement Fund

... still smoke, and 1,000 kids become regular smokers each year. Tobacco use claims 2,600 New Mexico lives and costs the state $844 million in health care bills annually. In the final hours of this year’s special session, New Mexico lawmakers broke a promise to protect future generations from ... products including e-cigarettes.  The new revenue could be used to increase prevention and education funding, which in the long-run will save health care costs and lives. An estimated 40,000 New Mexico kids alive today will die prematurely from smoking. State lawmakers can change this ...

Television and Digital Ad Campaign Calls on HHS Secretary Azar to Stop Proposed Changes to ‘Six Protected Classes’

... The ads will run on television and social media and feature actual cancer survivors and Medicare beneficiaries urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to protect cancer patients’ lives by halting the proposed changes. The campaign premiered ... and medically appropriate therapies,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN. “If finalized, these proposed changes could undermine health provider recommendations and create significant and potentially life-threatening delays in access to cutting-edge therapies that play a crucial role in cancer care.” The six protected classes policy was established more than a decade ago to ensure Medicare beneficiaries were able to have access to ...

Type

Priority Issue

State

Policy Issue

Judicial Advocacy