Access to Health Insurance

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As Congress considers changes to the Affordable Care Act, it is critically important that lawmakers maintain the patient protections that are so important to cancer patients and survivors, and ensure insurance coverage is truly affordable.  

We can never go back to the day when cancer patients couldn’t get health insurance coverage because they exceeded a lifetime limit or are denied coverage just because they survived cancer.  And, we must ensure they don’t experience any gap in their health insurance coverage and that their policies are truly affordable.

A study conducted by the American Cancer Society showed that people who are uninsured or underinsured are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at its more advanced stages when treatment is more expensive and patients are more likely to die from the disease.

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Join us for Medicaid's Online Day of Action

Members of Congress recently introduced a bill that slashes funding for Medicaid. Join us today in urging your Member of Congress to #ProtectMedicaid for cancer patients across the country.

Latest Updates

May 12, 2025

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee released a budget proposal late last night that would drastically slash funding for Medicaid by $715 billion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that these cuts will result in at least 8.6 million people losing coverage with no access to affordable health insurance options.

May 6, 2025
South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. – May 6, 2025 – The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services held a public hearing today regarding plans to submit a waiver request to establish Palmetto Pathways, a program that would set strict eligibility requirements for Medicaid recipients who are parents. In response,

April 22, 2025
Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – April 22, 2025 – “We continue to have grave concerns about the harmful effects SB84 and HB477 would have on Alabamians, especially after the failure of amendments that would have added oversight and patient protections. There’s a reason why these plans are currently illegal. If state lawmakers

April 9, 2025
National

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a budget resolution that could lead to devastating cuts to Medicaid.

Access to Health Insurance Resources

Cancer patients and survivors must balance reducing their health care costs with ensuring they have comprehensive coverage of services, treatments, and care providers.

Short-term limited duration (STLD) insurance plans do not provide the kind of comprehensive insurance coverage cancer patients need.  These plans were designed only as temporary coverage and are not subject to the same Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements as other health insurance products on the market.  As a result, an enrollee who was attracted to the plan’s lower premiums may find – if they are diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer – that the plan does not cover all of their necessary cancer treatments.  In these cases, the consumer can be left with catastrophic costs.

Many patients with complex diseases like cancer find it difficult to afford their treatments – even when they have health insurance.  Current law establishes a limit on what most private insurance plans can require enrollees to pay in out-of-pocket costs.  These limits protect patients from extremely high costs and are essential to any health care system that works for cancer patients and survivors.