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Access to Health Care

ACS CAN advocates for policies that provide access to treatments and services people with cancer need for their care - including those who may be newly diagnosed, in active treatment and cancer survivors.

Access to Health Care Resources:

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

ACS CAN provided the following comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program: Initial Memorandum, Implementation of Sections 1191 – 1198 of the Social Security Act for Initial Price Applicability Year 2026.

Cancer patients and survivors must balance reducing their health care costs with ensuring they have comprehensive coverage of services, treatments, and care providers.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion and overruling the precedents of Roe and Casey. State actions on access to abortion services could have significant impact on cancer patients. 

This Survivor Views survey finds that cancer patients and survivors continue to face pandemic-related health care delays one year later, including disruptions to screenings and difficulties accessing care.

Where healthcare dollars are spent compared with dollars on cancer care, 2018.

Telehealth visits that enable providers to deliver clinical services from a distance using options like video conferencing and remote monitoring can provide cancer patients and survivors with a convenient means of accessing both cancer care and primary care.

Cancer patients are particularly vulnerable to spikes in their health care costs because many expensive diagnostic tests and treatments are scheduled within a short period of time, so cancer patients spend their deductible and out-of-pocket maximum quickly. These costs can be difficult to manage over the course of a year, and most monthly budgets simply can’t afford these large bills. 

Most patients experience spikes in their health care costs around the time of a cancer diagnosis as they pay their deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. For patients on high deductible plans, this spike can mean bills due for several thousands of dollars within one month.

Private Health Insurance Resources:

ACS CAN submitted comments on September 16, 2020, to CMS regarding Georgia's 1332 waiver application.

Last year, the Administrative finalized a regulation that expands access to short-term, limited-duration insurance products. Short-term plans were originally intended to bridge gaps in comprehensive coverage – for instance, when an individual was between jobs and temporarily without access to an employer plan.

ACS CAN Comments on Interstate Sale of Insurance

ACS CAN submitted comments regarding the 2020 Proposed Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters for the individual insurance market.

ACS CAN submitted comments on the proposed 2019 CMS Program Integrity Rule.

ACS CAN submitted comments regarding a proposed rule to change Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and other account-based group health plans.

On March 6, 2018, ACS CAN filed comments on the proposed rule implementing changes to the Employee Retiree Income Security Act’s (ERISA’s) definition of “employer” for purposes of determining when employers may join together to form an Association Health Plan (AHP).

ACS CAN comments to Steven Mnuchin and Seema Verma on Iowa's 1332 Waiver

ACS CAN Comments on Short-Term Policies

Medicare Resources:

On Monday, April 29th, ACS CAN submitted comments in response to CMS' Medicare Prescription Payment Plan model notices. 

 

This ACS CAN chartbook provides cancer-specific data related to Medicare, including basic information about the program, a discussion of its components, characteristics of enrollees, coverage of services – specifically those related to prevention and screening – program expenditures and enrollees

ACS CAN is making cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state, and local levels.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) along with partners appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Patient Navigation provisions of CY2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

As Congress debated the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) we strongly advocated for both an annual cap on total Part D out-of-pocket costs and a mechanism that would allow an enrollee the option to pay the required cost-sharing in capped monthly installments.

Cancer patients and survivors must balance reducing their health care costs with ensuring they have comprehensive coverage of services, treatments, and care providers.

On Tuesday, September 6, 2022, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network filed comments on the calendar year (CY) 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule. 

ACS CAN's comments focused on the following:

Costs and Barriers to Care 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.

 

 

ACS CAN comments on 2015 Edition EHR Standards and Certification Criteria Proposed Rule

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Medicaid Resources:

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.

What does unwinding continuous coverage have to do with Medicaid expansion?

  • During the pandemic, Congress put in place continuous coverage protections to ensure that Medicaid enrollees were able to keep their health coverage without needing to re-enroll.