2013 Federal Agenda

Major Campaigns:

Appropriations for cancer research, prevention and early detection
- The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) will advocate for robust funding for research at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, cancer prevention and control programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
Access to health care for cancer patients, survivors and their families
- ACS CAN will advocate for an overall balance that protects low and middle income and elderly cancer patients who rely on Medicare and Medicaid for their health care.
- ACS CAN will advocate for timely implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), full expansion of Medicaid to all states as envisioned by the Act, and sufficient funding to establish and operate the market-based insurance exchanges through which many cancer patients and survivors will gain access to health care coverage beginning in 2014.
Advancing patient and survivor quality of life
- ACS CAN will support passage of the Cleaver-Bachus Patient Centered Quality of Life Act and the Wyden-Engel Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act pending in the House and Senate. In addition ACS CAN will advocate for legislative and regulatory change to make coordinated palliative care available to all cancer patients and survivors in all care settings.

Top Priorities:

Cancer prevention and early detection – breast and cervical and colorectal cancer screening: support access to evidence-based cancer screening, as well as protect funding and authorizations for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and the National Colorectal Cancer Control Program.

Tobacco control – domestic:
- Support for FDA implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco
  Control Act. Oppose legislative efforts to restrict the act by exempting certain tobacco
  products like cigars.
- Support every opportunity to expand cessation services for smokers.
- Support every opportunity to increase the federal tobacco tax.
Tobacco control – global: Advocate for provisions in future international trade treaties to eliminate the worldwide tobacco industry’s ongoing ability to mount legal challenges against effective domestic tobacco control policies enacted in the U.S. and other nations.Continue implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to ensure that the new FDA tobacco regulatory structure is fully funded and implemented expeditiously.rt existing and innovative new patient navigator concepts that optimize patient outreach and care management and planning.
Disparities: Support initiatives that reduce disparities in cancer incidence and mortality faced by minorities and the medically underserved. ACS CAN will continue to advocate for health disparities research, prevention programs and patient navigation concepts that optimize outreach, care coordination and disease management.
Nutrition and Physical Activity: Support initiatives that promote better nutrition, physical activity, and improved fitness as a cancer prevention strategy.

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.

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