WASHINGTON – March 25, 2010 – Families affected by cancer will face fewer financial barriers to care thanks to a bill passed by the U.S. Senate today that strengthens health care reform legislation signed into law by the President earlier this week. The bill improves the affordability of coverage by increasing insurance subsidies and eliminating arbitrary annual and lifetime caps on coverage for all insurance plans.
“For too long cancer patients and their loved ones have been forced to make the unfair choice between fighting for their lives or their lifesavings,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). “This legislation takes an important step toward making care adequate and affordable for nearly all Americans. While the bill isn’t perfect, it contains key provisions that are critical components in the fight to reduce suffering and death from cancer in this country.”
ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, analyzed both bills through the eyes of cancer patients, survivors and their families. The analysis shows that the bills together focus more on prevention and early detection by requiring all insurance plans to provide coverage for essential, evidence-based preventive measures with no additional co-pays. The reform bills also eliminate discrimination based on health status and preexisting conditions, which has been so detrimental to cancer patients over the years.
“Elected officials have seized a historic opportunity and taken a critical first step toward transforming our broken ‘sick care’ system,” said Robert E. Youle, a cancer survivor and volunteer chair of ACS CAN’s Board of Directors. “Tens of millions of previously uninsured and underinsured Americans will now have access to preventive care that will help prevent cancer and detect it at its earliest stages, treatment that has produced nearly 11 million cancer survivors in America today, and critical follow-up care.”
Since the start of the health care reform debate, ACS CAN grassroots volunteers nationwide have made more than 100,000 calls and sent more than 100,000 emails to lawmakers in support of meaningful reform. In the past week, ACS CAN volunteers delivered nearly 60,000 petitions to congressional offices across the country, calling on elected officials to pass meaningful health reform that would benefit families affected by cancer.
ACS CAN will continue to look for ways to strengthen the legislation throughout the implementation process both at the federal and state level. In addition, ACS CAN will be working to ensure strong and effective implementation of a new law.
For more information about ACS CAN’s efforts in support of health care reform, visit https://www.fightcancer.org.
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 Havens or Steven Weiss
Phone: 202-661-5772 or 202-661-5711
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
