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Promoting Progress: Eliminating Barriers to Clinical Trial Enrollment

Clinical trials are an essential part of advancing new cancer treatments and reducing suffering and death from the disease. However, a significant percentage of cancer clinical trials never get off the ground because not enough patients enroll. We at ACS CAN are eager to better understand the barriers to clinical trial enrollment. So our policy experts spent the last year delving deep into patient ... decline to participate, most said they were afraid of side effects, losing control of their treatment or that they would encounter logistical or cost issues with enrolling. Clearly the cancer community needs to do more to expand the reach of available trials and make sure trials are designed ...

House Passes Legislation to Increase Funding for Cancer Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- July 24, 2009 -- “The House of Representatives today took a big step forward in the fight against cancer with passage of the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services ... research and early detection programs. We encourage the Senate to pass this lifesaving legislation in a timely manner. Only with proper funding can the NIH, the NCI and the CDC conduct their important work to conquer a disease that will kill an estimated 560,000 Americans and cost the economy more than $228 billion this year.” ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, ...

Survivor Views: Majority Less Likely to Get Recommended Screenings if Coverage is Lost

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 ... less likely to stay up to date with preventive care if the provision mandating 100% coverage was repealed, resulting in a patient out-of-pocket cost for these services. Fifty-three percent put the dollar amount that would present a barrier to accessing preventive services at less than $200. ...

July 2009 Monthly Advocacy Update

... On Monday, June 22, we made history when President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Van Wolf, Chair of the American Cancer Society Board of Directors and Society and ACS CAN Chief Executive Officer John R. Seffrin, PhD, were among the guests at the White House Rose Garden signing ceremony. The Food and Drug ... as a reason to deny or limit coverage ensure that people with a chronic or catastrophic disease, like cancer, are not financially ruined by the cost of care place reasonable limitations on premiums and other patient out-of pocket costs abolish annual and lifetime caps on dollars spent or ...

Legislation Introduced to Revolutionize Cancer Treatment in Maine

... to receive biomarker testing – a routine step in accessing personalized medicine treatments that has become an increasingly important part of cancer care in recent years due to its significant impact in improving survivorship and quality of life. Progress in the fight against cancer has been in part due to advances in biomarker testing which allows physicians to match patients with ... some biomarker testing for some patients, meaning the most appropriate test for a patient may not be covered. As a result, too many Mainers can’t access such testing, which can contribute to disparities in access to the most appropriate and effective treatments. LD 1577 would address ...

NY Cancer Patients: ‘This Lung Cancer Awareness Month, We Need Governor Hochul to Ensure Access to Screening & Follow-up Care’

During Lung Cancer Awareness Month, cancer patients, survivors and volunteers with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in New York are calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to take urgent action to reduce the state’s lung cancer burden by signing legislation that will eliminate cost-sharing for lung cancer screening and follow-up tests. As the advocates’ calls reach a fever pitch, new data, published in JAMA , has ... five-year survival rate is 65% when found at a localized stage but drops to 9% when discovered after it has spread. Despite the clear benefits of screening, uptake remains low, affirmed by the aforementioned study in JAMA, as well as additional, local data that indicates only 21.8% of ...

Got Milk (or Water)?

  Sacramento, Calif. – New ACS CAN Report Spotlights Role Nutrition Plays in Cancer Fight. A new report that grades states based on how well they’re enacting cancer-fighting ... in kids’ meals.   Currently, most restaurant kids’ meals include a sugary beverage that contains more than the weekly recommended amount of sugary drinks for children. With the American Cancer Society findings now showing nearly 20 percent of all cancers are linked to weight, it is ... eating and active living environments.    “Customers can still explicitly ask to replace the healthy drink with a sugary beverage at no cost, but the default beverage offered in a children’s meal must be a healthful option,” said Kris Lev-Twombly, executive director of the ...

Real People and Real Stories from the Health Care Crisis

... cancer survivor who lost both parents to cancer at a young age. She receives her health insurance under COBRA, which covers 60 percent of her medical care but leaves her responsible for the remaining 40 percent, which she must pay out-of-pocket. The combination of her prescription medication and out-of-network care costs around $2,500 to $3,000 per month. Despite her ... who are struggling. “I spend at least 20 hours a week helping friends, or friends of friends, find a clinical trial or some way that they can gain some sort of access to health care.” She also works with various pharmaceutical companies to obtain drugs she needs that her insurance ...

How enhanced tax credits make cancer care affordable for patients like Ali

For over 20 years, Ali spent much of her time caring for others as a nurse and a single mother of two. When Ali started feeling ill in 2021, she knew her symptoms were indicative of ... cancer care, Ali signed up for health insurance through the Marketplace. Because of the enhanced premium tax credits that help lower the cost of Marketplace plans for individuals with low- or limited-incomes, Ali's plan was $32/month. Despite this low cost, Ali still struggled to afford necessities like groceries.  “I either have to pay my premium, or I go without food,” Ali says. “I’m dying. And now I can’t afford food because the only thing I can afford to pay for is my insurance.”  The enhanced premium tax credits are currently set to ...

Cancer Advocates From All 50 States Visit Capitol Hill to Urge Swift Action on Health Care Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- July 15, 2009 -- American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteers from all 50 states are on Capitol Hill today to meet with their lawmakers, calling for Action: Now Not Later on comprehensive health care reform. The lobby day is one of several activities taking place in Washington, D.C., in the latest phase of a campaign sponsored by ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the ... Viewpoint that shows that one in four families affected by cancer says they have had to put off or delay care in the last year because of cost.  The poll also found that in the last 12 months, nearly one-third of cancer patients in current treatment: cut pills or skipped doses, ...

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