2012 Idaho Legislative Priorities
2012 Idaho State Legislative Priorities
Updated 12/1/2011
Cancer has become one of the most preventable and increasingly curable life-threatening diseases – but only if we take the steps necessary to prevent it outright, detect it early, and improve access to care. To this end, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in Idaho is working on the following legislative priorities in support of ACS CAN and the Society’s shared mission to end cancer as a major health problem.
Expanding Prevention, Treatment, and Survivorship
· Women’s Health Check – ACS CAN supports measures to ensure adequate funding for Idaho’s Women’s Health Check which provides the option of free breast and cervical cancer screening for uninsured women with limited family income and no other resources for these services.
Ensuring Access to Quality Care
· Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – Inadequate access to timely, quality health care is one of the greatest barriers to winning the war on cancer. ACS CAN will support state legislation and regulations related to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which seek to achieve adequate, available, affordable, and administratively simple health insurance coverage for all without regard to health status or risk. This includes the establishment of an adequate state Health Insurance Exchange. ACS CAN will oppose measures to limit or restrict this objective.
Lung Cancer and Tobacco Control
· Millennium Fund – ACS CAN will work with the Millennium Fund Committee and the legislature to support annual appropriations from the Idaho Millennium Income Fund that are dedicated to preventing tobacco use and education about the dangers associated with tobacco use, consistent with CDC best practices for tobacco control.
· Smoke-Free Idaho – ACS CAN will monitor enforcement of the state’s clean indoor air act. ACS CAN will support efforts to further strengthen the existing law to include all work places and oppose any efforts to weaken the current law.
· Tobacco Taxes – ACS CAN actively supports measures that would increase the cost of cigarettes in Idaho by at least $1.25 per pack, with other tobacco products taxed at a corresponding level. ACS CAN opposes measures to change the tax structure of smokeless products from “price based” to “weight based,” which would effectively reduce the price of certain tobacco products.
For more information, please contact:
Heidi Low, Idaho State Director, Government Relations, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Great West Division · Cell 208.899.0723 · Office 208.422.0845 · Fax 208.343.9922 · www.acscan.org/idaho
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
