September 2010 Monthly Advocacy Update

ACS CAN LEADERSHIP SUMMIT AND LOBBY DAY

More than 600 ACS CAN volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every Congressional district gathered in Washington, D.C. from September 26-29 for the fourth annual ACS CAN Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.  Over the course of the event, the top two leadership tiers of ACS CAN’s volunteer structure (state lead ambassadors and ambassador constituent team leads) and their staff partners met with members of Congress and enjoyed skills training, issue briefings, and networking opportunities. Participants heard from ACS CAN Chair Rob Youle, Society and ACS CAN CEO John Seffrin, PhD, Society Chief Medical Officer Otis Brawley, MD, Ethan Zohn, a cancer survivor and winner of TV’s “Survivor: Africa,” former Congressman Jack W. Buechner (R-MO), and Lee Helman, MD, Scientific Director for Clinical Research at the National Cancer Institute.

 

The Lobby Day took place on Tuesday, September 28. ACS CAN advocates participated in 467 meetings where they urged their representatives and senators to fund proven cancer control programs and research to help develop better early detection tools and treatments particularly for those cancers that remain most lethal.

 

 

Coaches vs. Cancer Rally

ACS CAN further amplified its presence with a Capitol Hill rally featuring four NCAA Division I men’s college basketball coaches, Society and ACS CAN CEO John R. Seffrin, PhD, and  Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called on Congress to support sustained cancer research funding. The Capitol Hill event stressed that federal investment in cancer research, prevention and early detection programs is vitally important to cancer patients and survivors.

 

The participating coaches -- Steve Donahue of Boston College, Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech, Dave Rose of Brigham Young University, who is also a cancer survivor, and Bruce Weber of the University of Illinois -- are all members of Coaches vs. Cancer^®, a nationwide collaboration between the Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches that empowers coaches, their teams and communities to join the fight against cancer.

 

 

Top Advocacy Honors Presented 

Tuesday evening ACS CAN presented its National Distinguished Advocacy Award to Representatives Steve Israel (D-NY) and C.W. “Bill” Young (R-FL) and Governor Jim Doyle (D-WI). The National Distinguished Advocacy Award is ACS CAN’s most prestigious advocacy honor and is awarded for leadership in the fight against cancer. Earlier in the week longtime Society volunteer and ACS CAN Board member Phylecia Wilson was named the recipient of the ACS CAN Volunteer Award for Excellence in Advocacy. Formerly known as the Ted Marrs Award, the award is the highest national honor for volunteer advocacy, bestowed on volunteers who consistently demonstrate excellence and service in advocacy and public policy.

 

ACCESS TO CARE – AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

For more information, please visit www.fightcancer.org/healthcare.

 

Understanding the Affordable Care Act

ACS CAN staff developed the attached document to educate internal and external audiences about how the Affordable Care Act will benefit people with cancer and their families. The document lists important provisions of the new law by effective date and also outlines the Society and ACS CAN’s ongoing work to ensure that the law is implemented as strongly as possible for people with cancer and their families. Feel free to share this with fellow volunteers and others. 

 

ACS CAN is also working with the Society’s Corporate Communications and Health Promotions Departments at the National Home Office on a consumer-friendly booklet describing Affordable Care Act provisions through the "cancer lens."

 

Another great tool is a short animated movie the Kaiser Family Foundation posted on its health care reform website featuring “You Toons.” The movie addresses a number of complex provisions in the Affordable Care Act in a way that is easy to understand. Journalist Cokie Roberts, a member of Kaiser’s board of trustees, is the narrator.

 

Key Provisions Take Effect

September 23 marked the six month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Several provisions took effect that will meaningfully improve the health care system for people with cancer and their families.

 

The provisions include:

•        Prohibiting insurance companies from placing lifetime dollar limits on coverage, so people with cancer are not forced to pay the often high costs of their care out-of-pocket

•        Tightly restricting annual coverage limits, which will be phased out completely by 2014. 

•        Guaranteeing coverage in new plans of proven preventive services such as mammograms, Pap tests and colonoscopies, and ensuring that these services are free to patients.

•        Barring insurance companies from denying coverage to children up to age 19 with pre-existing conditions such as cancer.

•        Enabling dependent children to remain on their parent’s insurance policy up to age 26, thereby helping to expand access to coverage to an age group that often goes without it.

•        Banning health plans from abruptly dropping people from coverage when they become sick with an illness such as cancer.

 

Watch “Health Reform Kicks in from The CBS Evening News. The story features an interview with ACS CAN volunteer Anna Renault of Baltimore, Maryland, an eight time cancer survivor. Anna was also featured in an ABC News interview with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. A profile, “What Today’s New Healthcare Reforms Mean for 8-time Cancer Survivor Anna Renault”,” also ran in Baltimore Brew.

 

In ACS CAN blog posts, Carl and Carrie Brainard of West Virginia tell their story of postponing Carl’s cancer treatment because of a lifetime limit on his insurance policy, and how the law’s ban on lifetime limits means they don't have to choose between Carl’s life and their lifesavings. 

 

 

Resolution on Grandfathered Plans

On September 29, ACS CAN joined seven other groups representing patients, consumers and workers in urging the U.S. Senate to defeat a resolution that would eliminate the interim final rule governing "grandfathered" plans in the Affordable Care Act from taking effect. In a letter to senators, ACS CAN and the others wrote that the interim rule "strikes the right balance between protecting consumers and providing stability and flexibility for employers" and that eliminating it "would put consumers' rights in jeopardy." The Senate ultimately declined to consider the resolution, thereby ensuring its defeat.

 

Comments Filed on Pre-Existing Condition Plans

The nationwide temporary high-risk pool program known as the Pre-existing condition (PCIP) launched on July 1. PCIP provides immediate access to coverage for people in every state who have been uninsured for six months or more and have a pre-existing condition such as cancer.

 

On September 28, ACS CAN along with eight other patient/consumer groups filed commentswith the HHS on the interim final rule regarding PCIP. The group’s comments build on a rule that on the whole is well-constructed, asking the Secretary to do everything she can to maintain adequacy and affordability of the safety net coverage program by preventing an increase in premiums and a decrease in benefits without proof program funding is in jeopardy; mandating that plans maintain a minimum actuarial value of 60 percent and that premiums not exceed the standard market rate; and permitting plans to seek additional funding from outside resources to stave off shifting the cost burden to consumers. 

 

Comments on Coverage of Preventive Services in Private Health Insurance Plans

On September 17, ACS CAN submitted final comments on coverage of preventative services in private health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

 

ACS CAN’s comments address specific issues in the regulation that pose potential problems or require clarification. ACS CAN would prefer that the law include a more expansive list of cancer screenings than the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPTSF) recommends, such as all those recommended in American Cancer Society guidelines, but the law does not provide such flexibility. The HHS secretary, however, is required to develop an essential benefits package that all plans in the new health exchanges and some plans outside the exchanges will be required to offer. ACS CAN will advocate that a broader set of prevention services be included as essential benefits when comments on a proposed essential benefits package are being accepted.

 

Note that the new law specifically negates the USPSTF’s November 2009 decision to weaken its recommendation for breast cancer screening in women aged 40 and over, but that the new law exempts “grandfathered” plans in existence when it was signed from the requirement to cover these services with no cost-sharing.

 

Senator Johanns’ Amendment

On September 14, the US Senate, by a vote of 52-46 rejected an amendment to Small Business Jobs and Credit Act that was offered by Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE). The amendment addressed a provision in the Affordable Care Act that increases reporting requirements for small businesses. ACS CAN sent a letter to all Senators opposing the amendment because the amendment’s financial offset would have stripped the Prevention and Public Health Fund ($17 billion over 10 years) of nearly all its funding.

 

The Affordable Care Act established the Fund, which is playing a critical role in transforming the nation’s health care system with a dedicated stream of resources to pay for much-needed cancer screenings, tobacco cessation and obesity prevention programs that will help save thousands of lives from cancer every year. The amendment would have also made significant changes to the individual mandate requirements included in the new law that would increase premiums for individuals and families.

 

Federal Prevention Funding

HHS announced grants from the fiscal year 2010 Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act:

 

•        $16.8 million to train the public health workforce, with 27 Public Health Training Centers receiving funding.  

•        $31.0 million to 10 communities in eight states and one state health department to support public health efforts to reduce obesity and smoking, increase physical activity and improve nutrition. 

•        $42.5 million to 49 states, eight federally recognized tribes, Washington, D.C., five territories and three Affiliated Pacific Island jurisdictions to implement public health projects to help state          health departments work more effectively and efficiently to respond to public health problems such as cancer.

New ACS CAN Partnership

ACS CAN is engaged in a new partnership with several consumer groups and health and medical associations to provide the public with accurate information about the Affordable Care Act. Plans include launching a joint website, developing educational materials, and organizing events. We hope this powerful collaboration will cause people to take notice of how the law could benefit them and leverage the Society and ACS CAN’s continuing efforts to inform people with cancer and the public at large about the new law’s protections for patients.

 

Joining ACS CAN in the partnership are AARP, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Community Pharmacists Association, American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, and the Catholic Health Association.

 

CANCER RESEARCH AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS

For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org/research.

 

Appropriations Update

As expected, the 2011 fiscal year (FY 2011) began on October 1 under a Continuing Resolution (CR), a temporary spending bill that maintains the current FY 2010 funding levels for cancer research and prevention programs until the House and Senate approve and the president signs the annual appropriations bills into law. Congress is expected to return for a lame duck session in mid-November. The CR runs through December 3. Read ACS CAN volunteer Karen Kay’s letter to the editor a