Local Organizations Join Forces to Ensure Cancer Patients and Others Don’t Lose Access to Health Care Coverage

With the fate of thousands of cancer patients at stake, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), Americans for Tax Fairness, Healthcare Alliance and Forward Tennessee united today at the American Cancer Society’s Knoxville office to urge lawmakers to vote no on health care repeal in the tax bill and instead take strong, bipartisan steps—like those laid out by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.)— to strengthen, rather than weaken, America’s health care system.

Repealing the individual mandate would significantly weaken the individual insurance market and lead to higher premiums with fewer choices and more uninsured Americans. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), eliminating the insurance requirement from current law would lead to 13 million more Americans being uninsured by 2027 and would increase premiums by about 10 percent each year. Eliminating the mandate would also risk creating an unbalanced and unsustainable insurance pool.

“If I hadn’t had access to affordable health care coverage, I seriously doubt I’d be standing here today,” said Michael Holtz, a cancer survivor and Tennessee state lead ambassador for ACS CAN. “Our lawmakers should protect thousands of cancer patients from losing access to their health care coverage by voting no on health care repeal in the tax bill.”

Young and healthy people would be more likely to forego coverage and older, sicker people who need it will have to pay more until it is simply unaffordable—leading to more uninsured Americans.

“There are nearly 300,000 cancer survivors in Tennessee and I know, from personal experience, that we utilize the health care system more than an average person,” said Holtz. “People with serious chronic diseases, like cancer, can’t afford losing access to coverage or having their premiums go up.”

Willfully undermining a key component of the current health care system without a broader plan in place could be devastating to patients. In short, this would be bad for cancer patients and survivors who need access to quality, affordable health coverage.

About American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)

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.