Reducing Health Disparities

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Cancer impacts everyone, but it doesn’t impact everyone equally. We are working to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to prevent, find, treat, and survive cancer. No one should be disadvantaged in their fight against cancer because of how much money they make, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their disability status, or where they live.

From ensuring greater diversity among clinical trial participants to improving access to quality, affordable health care, we are asking lawmakers to reduce disparities in cancer care by advancing policies that break down existing barriers.

Black women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women overall

Latest Updates

September 30, 2025
Massachusetts

ACS CAN presented Medford’s Marina Watanabe with the Young Leader award in recognition of her passionate advocacy and commitment to ending cancer as we know it, for everyone.

September 24, 2025
Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Patient advocacy groups including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and ZERO Prostate Cancer applaud Alabama State Sen. Steve Livingston for pre-filing Senate Bill 19 , which eliminates cost sharing for lifesaving prostate cancer screenings for those covered by state-regulated insurance. The

August 18, 2025
National

More than 100 organizations representing millions of patients with serious health conditions and health care professionals sent a letter to Congress expressing their strong support for the Clinical Trial Modernization Act. Introduced in the House of Representatives in May 2025 by Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) and August Pfluger (R-FL), the bipartisan legislation would help remove cost and geographic barriers to patient participation in clinical trials.

June 10, 2025
Massachusetts

Massachusetts cancer survivors and caregivers urge lawmakers to support legislation that will increase access to precision medicine and patient navigation for all communities.

Reducing Health Disparities Resources

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) urges Congress to reauthorize the the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) to provide the program greater flexibility to NBCCEDP grantees, enabling them to implement evidence-based lifesaving screening, diagnostic, and treatment services and continue the innovative work aimed to reduce breast and cervical cancer disparities by passing the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) forCancer Act (H.R. 2381/S. 1866). This is critical to overall efforts to ensure that everyone has a fair and just opportunity toprevent, detect, treat and survive cancer.

Our latest survey finds that about half of cancer patients and survivors (49%) have incurred medical debt to pay for their cancer care and another 13% expect to incur medical debt as they begin or continue their treatment. Nearly all of those (98%) had health care coverage at the time they accumulated medical debt. This survey also explores the broad health and financial implications of medical debt, how medical debt deepens inequites, and the alarming rate of cancer related medical debt among younger respondents with early diagnoses.

A critical factor for eliminating disparities and ensuring health equity is the guarantee that all people have access to quality, affordable health care.