More than 750 cancer patients, survivors volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district recently came together in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.
More than 750 cancer patients, survivors volunteers and staff from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district recently came together in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.
Advocates urged Congress to take specific steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills 1,600 people a day in this country.
Holly Ho-Chee-DuPont of Hilo met Sept. 29 with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz to discuss the need to support an increase in federal funding for cancer research. She also asked them to co-sponsor legislation that supports patients’ quality of life and to support legislation that would close a loophole in Medicare that often results in surprise costs for seniors when a polyp is found during a routine colonoscopy.
“This year, more than 1.6 million Americans will hear the words ‘you have cancer.’ Congress has a critical role to play in helping us reduce that number in the future,” said Ho-Chee-DuPont, the Hawaii state lead ambassador for ACS CAN. “As a cancer advocate, I let Congresswoman Gabbard and Sens. Hirono and Schatz know that Congress can demonstrate a commitment to the fight against cancer by increasing federal funding for cancer research, co-sponsoring patient quality of life legislation and eliminating surprise costs for seniors getting colorectal cancer screenings.”
Specifically, Ho-Chee-DuPont and her fellow volunteers asked their members of Congress to:
• Support a $6 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, with $1 billion of that for the National Cancer Institute during the next two years.
• Co-sponsor legislation to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, with better access to palliative care. There is an extra layer of support widely available to patients and their caregivers in palliative care. In addition to their curative treatment, patients can receive help from a team that often includes a palliative care specialist, nurse, social worker, pharmacist and psychologist to better coordinate their care and manage their symptoms while they undergo treatment.
• Co-sponsor the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screenings Act. An estimated 137,000 people in America will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 50,000 people will die from the disease this year alone. The biggest barriers to screening are co-pays and other patient costs. While co-pays mostly have been eliminated in the private insurance market, Medicare patients still can get hit with a bill because of a rule that makes them pay if a polyp is found, changing the classification of their colonoscopy from a “screening” to a diagnostic procedure. With the legislation, Congress could help meet the goal of getting 80 percent of eligible Americans regularly screened for colorectal cancer by 2018.
Cancer advocates also attended training sessions about communicating with elected officials, conducting grassroots activities in their communities and engaging the media.
The ACS CAN Lobby Day culminated with an evening Lights of Hope ceremony in front of the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool, featuring thousands of lights illuminated in honor of cancer survivors or memorializing loved ones who lost their fight with the disease.