Coalition Activities
American Cancer Society Raises Awareness about Access to Care and Treatment
The American Cancer Society sends you this important message.
You may have heard about a bold new effort by the American Cancer Society to do something about our nation's health care crisis. We want you, our supporter, to know what we are doing and why.
Earlier this year, the American Cancer Society proudly reported a decline in cancer deaths. Sadly, scientific evidence suggests that this progress won't continue unless all Americans gain access to quality health care. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 47 million Americans have no health insurance and millions more don't have enough to cover costs. As a result, too many people can't afford medical care or screening tests that can prevent cancer or find it early – and too many die needlessly of cancers that are detected too late. Others end up losing everything they own because they cannot afford the cost of their cancer care.
And so we cannot help but ask, is choosing between your life and financial ruin really a choice?
With this new initiative, the American Cancer Society will do what we have historically done best – educate the public and move our country to action. When the Society confirmed the link between tobacco use and lung cancer more than 40 years ago, we worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco. Years later, we led volunteers across the country to advocate for policy changes that led to increased tobacco taxes and thousands of smoke-free communities. This combination of public awareness and grassroots advocacy has led to the lowest smoking rates in decades and, best of all, decreased death rates from lung cancer. We have made similar strides in cervical, breast, and colon cancers.
Now we plan to educate Americans about the need for greater access to quality health care through an aggressive public awareness campaign featuring real people telling their own very real stories. Advertisements airing nationwide will encourage people to visit www.cancer.org/access to learn more. For those who want to be part of the nationwide grassroots movement to make this issue a priority for state and federal elected officials, our sister advocacy organization, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM (ACS CAN), will provide opportunities for volunteers to become an active part of this effort.
Of course, while we pursue this new effort, we will continue to do all of the things that you expect from your American Cancer Society. We will continue to be the nation's top private funder of cancer research, to educate Americans about reducing their cancer risk, and to be available 24 hours a day to those who need us for information and support.
We thank you for your continued support of our mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. To learn more, tell us what you think, or get involved, visit www.cancer.org/access.
Winning the fight against cancer depends on improving access to quality health care.
We're making progress in the fight against cancer, but millions of Americans aren't benefiting because they don't have access to quality health care.
Cancer mortality rates began dropping in 1991 and have continued steadily since then. In 2003, the actual number of cancer deaths began dropping. However, millions of Americans still aren't benefiting from the progress being made. 47 million Americans are uninsured, and millions more are underinsured -- their insurance fails to provide adequate coverage when they are diagnosed with cancer. Many others forego early detection tests because they do not recognize their lifesaving potential.
Americans shouldn't have to choose between their health and financial ruin.
Nearly half of uninsured cancer patients said they used up all or most of their savings as a result of the financial cost of cancer, and 1 in 5 insured cancer patients said they used up all or most of their savings.
4 in 10 cancer patients skip treatment, cut pills or avoid filling prescriptions due to cost.
Society researchers have found that the uninsured and people with Medicaid are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cases of cancer than those with private insurance.
Health insurance should be adequate, affordable, available, and administratively simple.
General Facts
In 2006, 47 million people were without health insurance coverage, up from 44.8 million people in 2005.
Source: DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor BD, Smith, J. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau; 2007
25% of people reported that they used up all or most of their savings dealing with cancer.
Source: USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Cancer Survey (conducted August 1-September 14, 2006)
27% of people reported that they/their family member delayed or decided not to get care for cancer because of the cost.
Source: USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Cancer Survey (conducted August 1-September 14, 2006)
In 2006, annual insurance premiums for employer provided coverage averaged $4,242 for individuals and $11,480 for families.
Source: Kaiser/HRET 2006 Employer Health Benefits Survey
Among those with insurance, 23% of people said they/their family member had an insurance plan that paid less than expected for their medical bills.
Source: USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Cancer Survey (conducted August 1-September 14, 2006)
Nationally, fewer than half (47 percent) of parents in families earning less than $40,000 a year are offered
health insurance through their employer—a 9 percent drop since 1997.
Source: National Health Information Survey, 1997 and 2005
The number of uninsured children increased from 8 million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006.
Source: DeNavas-Walt C, Proctor BD, Smith J. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau; 2007
33% of families report a problem paying their cancer bills.
Source: USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Health Care Costs Survey (conducted April 25-June 9, 2005)
Family health insurance premiums have risen 87 percent since the year 2000, but median family incomes have increased by only 11 percent.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund, Learning from High Performance Health Systems Around the Globe, January 2007
Information provided by the American Cancer Society Jersey Shore Region