OLYMPIA, Wash. – As Washington residents face soaring health insurance costs and hundreds of thousands at risk of losing life-saving coverage, volunteer advocates of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will ask lawmakers on Wednesday to use the 2026 legislative session to preserve access to Medicaid and Medicaid expansion. Advocates from across the state will visit for Cancer Action Day, personally detailing the potential price beyond the budget.
“Some budget cuts are more than numbers on a spread sheet, but literally mean lives lost,” ACS CAN Washington Government Relations Director Audrey Miller Garcia said. “These are not just financial decisions, but choices about who will and will not have access to the needed tools to detect, treat and, really, survive a cancer diagnosis.”
Volunteer advocates will also host the state’s Lights of Hope display on the steps of the Capitol that evening, a powerful tribute to remember loved ones lost to cancer and a celebration of millions of survivors. All are invited to participate at 4 p.m.
Evergreen State residents need access to health care to maintain healthy, happy lives and have the best chance to avoid, detect and treat cancer. Washington was quick to adopt Medicaid expansion in 2014 and has seen better health outcomes as compared to non-expansion states, with the program open to those making 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Medicaid expansion in Washington covers more than 600,000 of our friends, family and neighbors. Medicaid and Medicaid expansion are important tools in the fight against cancer, providing access to screenings for early detection, treatment that save lives and follow-up care survivors require.
Cuts at the federal level and state budget issues place these programs – and countless Washington residents’ health – at risk. Medicaid expansion has significantly reduced Washington’s uninsured rate, covering those who otherwise could not afford a Marketplace plan and providing access to quality insurance and health care. This coverage is especially crucial to rural and lower-income residents and the health care systems serving them, some of which could face closure because of federal and state Medicaid cuts.
ACS CAN advocates will ask Gov. Bob Ferguson to refuse to allow the long-term health of Washingtonians to become collateral damage to the state’s current budget crisis. Washington’s Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program (CTPP) combats the nearly $85 million invested each year by Big Tobacco to lure in more customers, many as young as middle school. Increasing the cigarette tax by at least $2 per pack and investing in fact-based tobacco control programs are two of the most effective ways to help people quit and never start using tobacco. The Breast, Cervical, and Colon Screening Program (BCCP) makes sure as many of Ferguson’s constituents as possible have access to screening for three of the state’s most prevalent forms of cancer.
“The potential for budget cuts to do serious damage to the health of Washington residents needs to be understood fully by the Governor and others making these decisions.” Miller Garcia said. “Colorectal, breast and cervical cancer are three of the biggest killers in Washington. Previous budget cuts already cut colorectal screening from the state program. Further eroding the methods used to control them cannot be the way forward. Tobacco use costs the state thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year. Significant cuts to tobacco prevention and cessation or the Breast, Cervical, and Colon Screening Program will damage Washington families well beyond their bank accounts. The cost will be the health of our children and lives of our loved ones. This is not political posturing. It’s based in data and is not a possibility but an inevitability.”
ACS CAN encourages individuals, businesses and organizations that are interested in getting involved in the fight against cancer to visit https://www.fightcancer.org/states/washington
