SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Aug. 9, 2018 – South Dakota falls short when it comes to implementing legislation to prevent and reduce suffering and death from cancer according to the latest edition of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s How Do You Measure Up?: A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality, released today.
“Our state doesn’t hold up very well in this report,” said David W. Benson, ACS CAN government relations director for South Dakota. “It clearly shows we need to work on our tobacco tax and our funding of breast and cervical cancer programs. That’s exactly where we’ll be putting our attention with lawmakers in the 2019 session.”
How Do You Measure Up? rates states in nine specific areas of public policy that can help fight cancer, including increase access to care through Medicaid, funding for screening programs, smoke-free laws, cigarette tax levels, funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, and cessation coverage under Medicaid. The report also looks at whether a state provides a balances approach to pain medication and if it has passed policies proven to increase patient quality of life.
A color-coded system classifies how well a state is doing in each issue. Green shows that a state has adopted evidence-based policies and best practices; yellow indicates moderate movement toward the benchmark; and red shows where states are falling short
“Getting a black rating for our breast and cervical cancer programs should serve as a reminder to state legislators that we can do better,” said Benson. “We also need to raise our tobacco tax to make sure the cost of using tobacco encourages people to quit, or better yet, never start in the first place. I’ll be at the capitol with ACS CAN volunteers this session to make sure our lawmakers get the support they need to make these changes.”
To view the complete report and details on South Dakota’s grades, visit fightcancer.org/measure.
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.