WASHINGTON - January 27, 2010 - Cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones are calling on the President to continue to make meaningful health care reform a top national priority. Cancer advocates will gather across the country tonight to watch President Obama lay out his legislative agenda during his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, sending a message to the White House and Congress that reform needs to remain high on the national to-do list.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, is organizing a virtual watch party on-line as well as local in-person watch parties for volunteers. The State of the Union comes just days after the volunteer board of the American Cancer Society passed a resolution calling on the President and all Members of Congress to work together to quickly pass legislation that improves access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
"We cannot fulfill the President's promise of ending cancer in our lifetime if the country does not improve access to quality, affordable health care," said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of ACS CAN. "We need our lawmakers to seize this historic opportunity to collectively improve the health of all Americans."
Families affected by cancer need meaningful reform that will improve health care for patients and their families by refocusing the system to emphasize prevention, ending the practice of denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, limiting the cost burden on families by providing care that costs less and covers more, and emphasizing patients' quality of life.
"Families affected by cancer know first-hand the gaps that exist in our broken system," said Molly A. Daniels, interim president of ACS CAN. "The status quo is a costly and potentially life-threatening proposition for people with cancer who must fight for the care they need while also fighting for their life."
As the leading voice of patients in the health care reform debate, ACS CAN, working to advance the mission of the Society, has worked with a broad cross-section of stakeholders to build momentum for reform nationwide.
For more information about ACS CAN's efforts in support of health care reform, visit http://www.acscan.org.
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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