My View: Access to health care is a life-and-death issue for cancer patients

OPINION By Sandra Cassese

Would you recognize the face of the uninsured in America? It’s the 22-year-old recent college graduate who is no longer covered under a parent’s insurance plan, the 45-year-old professional who is between jobs and cannot afford high-priced continuation coverage, the single parents who can get government-backed insurance for their kids but make just too much salary to qualify themselves.

America’s broken health-care system is one of the largest obstacles to achieving victory over cancer. The people who need it most — nearly 46 million uninsured people — lack early and ongoing access to our nation’s health-care system, which studies have shown leads to poorer cancer outcomes. The failings of our health-care system directly contribute to needless suffering and death from cancer, which will kill an estimated 35,000 people this year in New York state. According to a recent Fiscal Policy Institute report, there were more than 46,000 nonelderly uninsured individuals in Orange County alone in 2006.

Fighting cancer is hugely expensive and can mean financial catastrophe for families with or without insurance. Almost half of uninsured cancer patients use up all or most of their savings fighting the disease. One in 5 patients who have insurance will face financial ruin in their battle with cancer. High costs and inadequate insurance policies cause nearly one-third of patients to skip or delay treatment for cancer.

Since lack of or inadequate health-care coverage has such a large impact on cancer survival rates and quality of life for those with cancer, the American Cancer Society is educating the public about the severity of the health-care crisis and its impact on real people. In the aftermath of a remarkable election, we need to make sure that health-care reform remains a top priority for the incoming administration. I challenge President-elect Obama to maintain the extraordinary level of commitment needed to push access to health-care reform over the finish line. Visit www.acscan.org to review where the presidents and newly elected state officials stand on cancer issues.

Cancer is potentially the most preventable and the most treatable of all life-threatening diseases. We have made tremendous progress in the fight against cancer, but we know not everyone is benefiting equally from those advances. Too many cancer patients are being diagnosed too late, when treatment is harder and more expensive and has less chance of saving lives. Screening tests and treatment that improves quality of life must be available to all.

Answers may be found in the private sector, the public sector or some combination of the two. The objective of the American Cancer Society’s public education efforts is not to propose a specific solution, it is to help define what the country needs and to encourage an open, productive dialogue about how to achieve it. Americans deserve access to health-care coverage that is adequate to meet their needs, affordable, available when they need it and administratively simple. The American Cancer Society will continue to fund groundbreaking cancer research, raise awareness about prevention and early detection, and advocate for tobacco control measures and programs that provide screening and treatment to the underserved.

Hold local lawmakers and state legislators accountable for pre-election health-care proposals and promises. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network will continue to defend funding for breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment programs, as well as funding for tobacco control programs. By building on our progress against cancer while working toward real solutions to the nation’s health-care crisis, we can help ensure that everyone has a fighting chance against cancer.

Sandra Cassese is assistant vice president for oncology and ambulatory services at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie and the state lead ambassador for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.