2026 Iowa Legislative Priorities

Victory in the fight against cancer requires bold new public policies that promote cancer prevention, early detection of cancer, and expand access to quality, affordable health care. Lawmakers make many decisions that impact the lives of Iowans impacted by cancer and their leadership is vital to defeating this disease. In 2026 the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) will work with the Iowa General Assembly on legislative and regulatory efforts that provide affordable, adequate access to health insurance including Medicaid, ensure adequate funding for lifesaving cancer screening and prevention programs, and enact prevention policies to protect kids from tobacco products and help support those who are trying to quit. We will be making the following fact-based policies a priority and ask for your support:

Ensuring Access to Quality Care

• Medicaid Defense: The preservation of eligibility, coverage, and access to Medicaid remains critically important for many low-income state residents who depend on the program for cancer and chronic disease prevention, as well as early detection, diagnostic, and treatment services. ACS CAN will work to ensure Medicaid enrollees have adequate access and coverage and will oppose proposals that create barriers or reduce access to care for cancer patients, survivors, and those who could be diagnosed with cancer.
• Affordable, Adequate Health Insurance: ACS CAN will advocate for policies that ensure access to quality, affordable and comprehensive health insurance including Medicaid and will support efforts to curb the availability of inadequate health plans.

Cancer Prevention and Early Detection

• Breast and Cervical Cancer: ACS CAN will advocate to maintain funding of $275,000 for Iowa’s Care for Yourself program, the state breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment program for low-income uninsured and underinsured women administered by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
• HPV: ACS CAN supports legislation to increase uptake of the HPV vaccine including policies to strengthen school vaccination requirements, facilitate pharmacists’ ability to administer vaccines to children, and appropriate funding for HPV vaccine education and administration.
• Remove copays for cancer screenings: ACS CAN will advocate for legislation to eliminate cost sharing for follow-up cancer screening tests that are needed after an abnormal result and supplemental screening needed for some individuals based on individual risk factors.

Reducing the Toll of Tobacco

• Tobacco Taxes: As the Iowa Legislature works to identify funding strategies to reduce the budget deficit, ACS CAN will advocate to increase the cigarette tax by $1.50 per pack with a parallel tax on all other tobacco products including e-cigarettes. Increasing the price of cigarettes and all other tobacco products through regular and significant tobacco tax increases helps prevent kids from starting to use tobacco and helps support people who are trying to quit.  $12.8 million of the revenue from the tobacco tax increase should be used to fund and sustain fact-based, statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
• Smoke-free Air: ACS CAN will work to close the casino loophole in Iowa’s Smoke-Free Air Act. ACS CAN will work to defend the statewide smoke-free law against any exemptions. ACS CAN will work to expand the statewide smoke-free law to prohibit the use of e-cigarettes wherever smoking is prohibited.

Cancer Research Funding

• Research Appropriations: ACS CAN will work to increase appropriations to support scientific research on cutting-edge treatments.
• Comprehensive Cancer Control Program Funding: ACS CAN will work to protect appropriations for state comprehensive cancer control programs.
• State Cancer Registries: ACS CAN will work to protect or increase appropriations to support state cancer registries which provide the data-driven foundation for the state cancer control efforts.