Share

Arizonans Traveling to D.C. to Help Honor McCain, Press Lawmakers to Prioritize Cancer

September 18, 2018

PHOENIX  This month, nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district will gather in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. Advocates will urge Congress to take steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills more than 1,670 people every day in this country.

Ten Arizonans from across the state will meet with their congressional delegation to ask for support in three key areas in the cancer fight.

Specifically, the Arizonan delegation will ask their members of Congress to:

  • Increase funding for research at the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion for fiscal year 2019.
  • Support the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA), which will greatly improve the quality of life for cancer patients.
  • Support the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act. Cost sharing has been mostly eliminated in the private insurance market, but some Medicare patients can still get hit with a bill if a polyp is found and removed during a colonoscopy, which changes the classification from a “screening” to a diagnostic procedure. ACS CAN supports bipartisan legislation that would eliminate this cost sharing glitch, allowing men and women to receive those screenings without waking from the procedure and facing an unexpected bill. 

Their time in D.C. will be capped off with an evening Lights of Hope ceremony in front of the Lincoln Memorial featuring more than 25,000 lights in honor of a cancer survivor or to memorialize a loved one lost to the disease. Arizona’s volunteers have sold more than $10,000 in bags, including an estimated 20 bearing the name of late Sen. John McCain.

###