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How Does Your State Measure Up? Find Out Here.
July 22, 2009
This week, ACS CAN released its annual report that rates all 50 states on policies in six priority areas, such as cancer screening laws for the uninsured, and found that no state received a perfect score.
Findings in the 2009 How Do You Measure Up? report indicate that almost half of the states are falling short on policies dedicated to fighting and preventing cancer. The report did, however, acknowledge the legislative successes of numerous states despite budget crises in tough economic times.
Below are the six policy areas by which all states were measured:
¢ Breast and cervical cancer early detection program funding
¢ Access to care for the uninsured
¢ Colorectal screening coverage laws
¢ Smoke-free laws
¢ Pain management
¢ Tobacco taxes.
A color-coded system is used to identify how well a state is doing green indicates a state has reached the benchmark with good policies and funding, yellow indicates an effort at the benchmark and red represents that a state is falling short. Be sure to visit www.fightcancer.org for a copy of the complete report to see where your state ranks.
This yearÈs report, found that only two states Maryland and Massachusetts received green ratings on five out of the six areas, while eight states Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming failed to meet benchmark on any of the six issues.
Other key highlights cited in the report:
¢ In the past year, 12 states and the District of Columbia have passed or implemented tobacco tax increases including several southern tobacco-growing states and Florida, which raised taxes by $1.00 the stateÈs first increase since 1990.
¢ Rhode Island was the first state to pass a tobacco tax above $3.00 and currently has the highest cigarette tax at $3.46 per pack.
¢ A few states, such as Nebraska, were successful in preserving coverage for programs that fund lifesaving cancer prevention and detection screenings.
¢ Only nine states have reached benchmarks in providing screenings for breast and cervical cancer early detection.
¢ Only 16 states met the benchmark on cancer pain management policy and practice.
In 2009, more than 1.4 million people in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 562,000 people will die from the disease. Advances in the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer have resulted in an almost 14 percent decrease in U.S. death rates from all cancers combined from 1991 to 2004 resulting in 650,000 lives saved.
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