Reducing Health Disparities Press Releases
As Congress works to determine 2024 priorities before the budget deadline at the end of the month, nearly 700 cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, and nearly every congressional district, will be on Capitol Hill this week to make clear to members of Congress that cancer must be a national priority.
Washington, D.C., September 14, 2023 – Bipartisan legislation that would eliminate financial barriers to prostate cancer screening was introduced in the U.S. Senate. Sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Boozman (R-AR), the Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act would waive cost-sharing requirements for men with the highest risk of prostate cancer, focusing on Black men and those with a family history of the disease.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 4, 2023 – U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and U.S. Representative Kweisi Mfume (D-Md. 7th) recently announced the introduction of the Henrietta Lacks Congressional Gold Medal Act, legislation that would posthumously award Henrietta Lacks the Congressional Gold Medal for her substantial contributions to medicine.
Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its proposed rules to eliminate menthol cigarettes and eliminate all flavors in cigars. Now, nearly one year later, the rules are still not final. This inaction has allowed Big Tobacco to continue targeting these products to the Black community, who consistently reports the highest prevalence of menthol cigarette use.
More than a dozen patient groups representing millions of Americans with serious and chronic health conditions are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to preserve protections in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) patients receiving health care services in the case of Neese vs. Becerra.
The PSA Screening for HIM Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 28, 2023. This bipartisan legislative proposal would waive cost-sharing requirements for men with the highest risk of prostate cancer, focusing on Black men and those with a family history of the disease.
Extending postpartum Medicaid coverage is a positive step toward improving the health outcomes of women and their children in Wyoming.
Ahead of the President’s State of the Union Address, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is calling on the President to emphasize the need for continued bipartisan support for increased federal investment in the fight against cancer.