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Initial Guidance on Essential Health Benefits Leaves Questions about the Guarantee of Adequate and Affordable Coverage for Cancer Patients

January 31, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- January 31, 2012 -- The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) today filed comments with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Essential Health Benefits Bulletin -- the first communication from the administration laying out guidelines for determining a minimum standard of benefits in each state. The comments acknowledge the underlying effort to provide flexibility to states, but encourage the administration to strengthen the guidelines in a number of ways including, providing a uniform definition of coverage that addresses a continuum of care, regardless of geographic location; prohibiting efforts by insurers to subtly discriminate against certain medical conditions through benefit manipulation like service or dollar amount limits; and requiring transparency for consumers and consumer advocates, including access to timely and easy-to-understand plan information.

View a full copy of the comments.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alissa Crispino or Steven Weiss
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: (202) 661-5772 or (202) 661-5711
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

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