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.

Take Action

Cindy in front of the Capitol general cropped

Take Action: Oppose Medicaid Cuts that Children with Cancer Rely On

Cindy is living proof that Medicaid saves lives from cancer. “Medicaid saved my life and helped keep my family from going bankrupt.” Urge Congress to oppose Medicaid cuts that 1 in 3 children diagnosed with cancer in the U.S., like Cindy, rely on for life-saving care.

Latest Updates

March 12, 2025
National

Today, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), along with partner organizations, filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood.

March 12, 2025
Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –– The Wyoming Legislature closed business last week having again failed to take meaningful action to address the state’s ongoing health care crisis. As one of only 10 states refusing to enact Medicaid expansion, tens of thousands of Wyoming residents remain in the coverage gap, working jobs where

March 3, 2025
Idaho

BOISE, Idaho – – A bill that would serve to strip health care from thousands of hard-working Idahoans will be heard by the Health & Welfare Committee of the Idaho House of Representatives on Tuesday. House Bill 345 would make significant, damaging changes to voter-initiated Medicaid expansion and could keep

March 3, 2025
South Dakota

PIERRE, S.D. –– The South Dakota Senate on Monday moved a step closer to dismantling voter-initiated Medicaid expansion, approving House Joint Resolution 5001, potentially triggering a 2026 Constitutional Amendment ballot question that could terminate access to health care for the 29,000 South Dakotans enrolled in Medicaid expansion. To cover the

Access to Health Insurance Resources

The health care law has several provisions that help prevent individuals from experiencing gaps in health insurance coverage, including the requirement that private health insurance plans allow dependents to remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26.  This provision is important for keeping survivors of childhood and young adult cancer insured, and helps to ensure young adults receive preventive services and screenings.  This provision is a crucial patient protection that must be a part of a health care system that works for cancer patients and survivors.

Consumers need access to health insurance policies that cover a full range of evidence-based health care services – including prevention and primary care – necessary to maintain health, avoid disease, overcome acute illness and live with chronic disease.  Any health care system that works for cancer patients must have standards ensuring that enrollees have access to comprehensive health insurance.

Current federal requirements prohibit most insurance plans from limiting both the lifetime and annual dollar value of benefits.  This ban is one of several important patient protections that must be part of any health care system that works for cancer patients.

 

 

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