• Facebook
  • Rss
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Store
  • Donate
NCCS - National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership
      • Policy Advisors
    • Employment
    • Partnerships
    • Financial Information
  • Policy
    • Quality Cancer Care
    • Access to Care
    • Health Equity
    • Redefining Functional Status (RFS)
    • 2020 State of Cancer Survivorship Survey
    • Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act (CCPCA)
  • Get Involved
    • What is Advocacy?
    • Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT)
    • Elevating Survivorship
    • Survivor Stories
    • Cancerversary
    • State Based Cancer Advocacy
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources for Cancer Survivors
    • Survivorship Checklist
    • Cancer Survival Toolbox
    • Telehealth
    • Publications
      • Talking With Your Doctor
      • Self Advocacy
      • Employment Rights
      • Remaining Hopeful
    • Cancer Convos Podcast
    • Taking Charge of Your Care
    • Care Planning for Cancer Survivors
    • Tools For Care Providers
    • Order Our Resources
  • News
  • Events
    • From Shadows to Life: A Biography of the Cancer Survivorship Movement
    • Ellen L. Stovall Award
      • 2020 Stovall Awards
      • Honorees
      • Sponsors
      • Committees
      • Reception
      • Nominations
    • Cancer Policy Roundtable
      • Fall 2020 Cancer Policy Roundtable
      • Spring 2020 Cancer Policy Roundtable
    • Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT) Symposium 2020
    • Webinars
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • 0Shopping Cart

Year-End MATCH (DEADLINE Dec 31): Donate & Make a Difference | Donate

You are here: Home1 / Policy2 / Access to Care

Access to Care

Access to quality, affordable cancer care is essential for anyone with a cancer diagnosis. Access includes adequate health insurance that covers needed treatments without leaving people with cancer to suffer “financial toxicity.” People with cancer also need the ability to participate in a clinical trial, if it represents a potential treatment option.

Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), cancer survivors were at the mercy of the health care system, often forced to pay exorbitant premiums or simply denied coverage altogether. Today, America’s 17 million cancer survivors benefit from the ACA’s patient protections that provide them with quality, affordable, and accessible health care coverage. Through the ACA, cancer patients and survivors can now purchase insurance through Healthcare.gov and state insurance exchanges. The ACA has afforded protections related to out-of-pocket expenses, lifetime caps, and pre-existing conditions.

NCCS believes in the following principles for access to care:

  • Individuals with pre-existing conditions must not be denied coverage or charged higher premiums.
  • Plans must cover all essential health care needs.
  • Adequate financial assistance must be provided to ensure people with low and moderate incomes can purchase health insurance.
  • Insurers must not discriminate against older Americans, who are disproportionately impacted by cancer, or women.
  • Cost-sharing protections must be maintained, including caps on out-of-pocket costs and the elimination of annual and lifetime maximum benefits.
  • States should take advantage of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, which provides coverage to low income individuals living with cancer.
  • People with pre-existing conditions must not be segregated into high-risk pools, which are expensive and burdensome and do not meet the needs of cancer patients.
  • Cancer patients must have access to comprehensive and well-coordinated cancer care, including clinical trials.

“For a cancer survivor, dealing with the collateral damage of cancer treatment and the continued surveillance for recurrence or secondary cancers, going without insurance is simply not an option. I am very worried that the proposed replacement for the ACA will harm cancer survivors, particularly people with low incomes and people over the age of 50. We simply can’t go back to the days before the ACA when cancer survivors could be denied coverage, and we must ensure people have access to quality, affordable health insurance.”

Michael Kappel, NCCS board member and 13-year colon cancer survivor

HHS Humphrey bldg 1200

NCCS Opposes Most Favored Nation (MFN) Rule: New Medicare Part B Drug Payment Model Will Harm Patients

December 3, 2020
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) opposes the Most Favored Nation…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/HHS-Humphrey-bldg-1200.jpg 600 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-12-03 21:26:462020-12-03 21:28:06NCCS Opposes Most Favored Nation (MFN) Rule: New Medicare Part B Drug Payment Model Will Harm Patients

NCCS Presents 5th Annual Ellen L. Stovall Award to Julia H. Rowland, PhD and Thomas J. Smith, MD for Their Innovation and Dedication to Cancer Survivors

November 19, 2020
(Silver Spring, MD) – The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) presented…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/Stovall-Award-2020-feat2.jpg 635 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-11-19 01:07:452020-12-04 19:08:17NCCS Presents 5th Annual Ellen L. Stovall Award to Julia H. Rowland, PhD and Thomas J. Smith, MD for Their Innovation and Dedication to Cancer Survivors
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

NCCS Recommends Making COVID-19 Medicare Telehealth Coverage Expansion Permanent

October 8, 2020
NCCS recently submitted a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/Centers-for-Medicare-and-Medicaid.jpg 321 845 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-10-08 16:36:502020-12-01 10:03:47NCCS Recommends Making COVID-19 Medicare Telehealth Coverage Expansion Permanent
Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services

NCCS and Cancer Groups Make Recommendations to CMS Regarding Proposed 2021 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)

October 6, 2020
NCCS joined with other cancer patient and provider groups in a comment letter to…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/Centers-for-Medicare-Medicaid-Services.jpg 515 1030 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-10-06 13:13:462020-10-23 14:46:00NCCS and Cancer Groups Make Recommendations to CMS Regarding Proposed 2021 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)
NCCS CancerAdvocacy.org

NCCS and Cancer Groups Urge National Academy of Medicine to Include Cancer Patients in Phase IB COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation

September 18, 2020
NCCS joined with a group of patient and provider advocacy groups in a letter to the…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Canceradvocacy-org-default-image.jpg 600 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-09-18 15:25:402020-09-18 15:25:40NCCS and Cancer Groups Urge National Academy of Medicine to Include Cancer Patients in Phase IB COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation
Stovall Award sq Logo Bl Ribbon

NCCS to Recognize Julia H. Rowland, PhD and Tom Smith, MD with 2020 Ellen L. Stovall Award

September 14, 2020
NCCS is pleased to announce the 2020 winners of the Ellen L. Stovall Award for Innovation…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Stovall-Award-sq-Logo-Bl-Ribbon.png 500 500 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2020-09-14 16:35:402020-11-05 10:34:35NCCS to Recognize Julia H. Rowland, PhD and Tom Smith, MD with 2020 Ellen L. Stovall Award
aesthetic flat closure

Advocating for Women Who Choose to Go Flat After Mastectomy

September 10, 2020
By Kim Bowles Founder Not Putting On a Shirt When I woke up from surgery and…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/aesthetic-flat-closure-feat-img-500x500-1.jpg 515 1030 actualize https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png actualize2020-09-10 11:48:052020-12-01 10:47:33Advocating for Women Who Choose to Go Flat After Mastectomy
Eligibility to Cancer Survivors

Advocacy Alert: Tell Congress to Expand Paid Leave Eligibility to Cancer Survivors

September 10, 2020
Expand Eligibility for Paid Leave to Include Cancer Survivors: We urge Congress…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Capitol-wide-800px.jpg 400 800 actualize https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png actualize2020-09-10 11:35:492020-11-23 08:35:26Advocacy Alert: Tell Congress to Expand Paid Leave Eligibility to Cancer Survivors
Page 2 of 93‹1234›»

Policy

  • Policy
    • Quality Cancer Care
    • Access to Care
    • Health Equity
    • Redefining Functional Status (RFS)
    • 2020 State of Cancer Survivorship Survey
    • Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act (CCPCA)

Latest News

CDC Headquarters

NCCS Recommends That States Allocate COVID-19 Vaccines to Cancer Care Providers

March 1, 2021
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) and the Cancer Leadership Council…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/CDC_Headquarters_PHIL_pubdomain_1200.jpg 600 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2021-03-01 15:49:432021-03-04 17:45:07NCCS Recommends That States Allocate COVID-19 Vaccines to Cancer Care Providers
Coronavirus feat

COVID-19 Vaccines and Cancer: A Conversation with Cancer Expert Otis Brawley, MD

March 1, 2021
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) hosted a conversation on February…
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-feat.jpg 600 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2021-03-01 11:49:192021-03-02 16:15:47COVID-19 Vaccines and Cancer: A Conversation with Cancer Expert Otis Brawley, MD
NCCS CancerAdvocacy.org

NCCS Joins Patient, Disability, and Health Care Organizations to Urge U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Medicaid and Rule Against Work Requirements

February 25, 2021
Loss of Patient Protections Would Raise Barriers to Health Insurance — Seventeen patient groups representing millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions filed an amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court”) brief today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case Texas v. United States, citing the devastating impact patients would face should the court uphold the District Court ruling to invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). [...]
Read more
https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Canceradvocacy-org-default-image.jpg 600 1200 NCCS Staff https://canceradvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/NCCA-Logo.png NCCS Staff2021-02-25 17:48:242021-03-04 18:07:26NCCS Joins Patient, Disability, and Health Care Organizations to Urge U.S. Supreme Court to Protect Medicaid and Rule Against Work Requirements

Take Action

Stovall Award

The Ellen L. Stovall Award for Innovation in Patient-Centered Cancer Care is a unique opportunity for patients and survivors to recognize pioneers who are transforming the cancer care system.

Join CPAT

The NCCS Cancer Policy & Advocacy Team (CPAT) is a program for survivors and caregivers to learn about pressing policy issues that affect quality cancer care in order to be engaged as advocates in public policy around the needs of cancer survivors.

Share Your Story

NCCS represents the millions of Americans who share a common experience – the survivorship experience – living with, through and beyond a cancer diagnosis.

STAY CONNECTED

Together we can improve cancer care for survivors! Sign up to be the first to know about cancer policy issues and ways to take action

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our History
    • Our Leadership
      • Policy Advisors
    • Employment
    • Partnerships
    • Financial Information
  • Policy
    • Quality Cancer Care
    • Access to Care
    • Health Equity
    • Redefining Functional Status (RFS)
    • 2020 State of Cancer Survivorship Survey
    • Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act (CCPCA)
  • Get Involved
    • What is Advocacy?
    • Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT)
    • Elevating Survivorship
    • Survivor Stories
    • Cancerversary
    • State Based Cancer Advocacy
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources for Cancer Survivors
    • Survivorship Checklist
    • Cancer Survival Toolbox
    • Telehealth
    • Publications
      • Talking With Your Doctor
      • Self Advocacy
      • Employment Rights
      • Remaining Hopeful
    • Cancer Convos Podcast
    • Taking Charge of Your Care
    • Care Planning for Cancer Survivors
    • Tools For Care Providers
    • Order Our Resources
  • News
  • Events
    • From Shadows to Life: A Biography of the Cancer Survivorship Movement
    • Ellen L. Stovall Award
      • 2020 Stovall Awards
      • Honorees
      • Sponsors
      • Committees
      • Reception
      • Nominations
    • Cancer Policy Roundtable
      • Fall 2020 Cancer Policy Roundtable
      • Spring 2020 Cancer Policy Roundtable
    • Cancer Policy and Advocacy Team (CPAT) Symposium 2020
    • Webinars
  • Contact Us

National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
8455 Colesville Road  |  Suite 930  |  Silver Spring, MD 20910
877-NCCS-YES  |  info@canceradvocacy.org
Privacy Policy  |  Terms and Conditions

Copyright © 1995-2021 by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, NCCS, Cancer Survival Toolbox, and related Logos are registered in the United States as trademarks of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

Scroll to top

Harmar Brereton, MD

Founder
Northeast Regional Cancer Institute

 

“Perhaps one of the most impactful collaborations in Dr. Brereton’s extraordinary career remains his early work and long friendship with Ellen Stovall. Through him, and in turn through the thousands of lives he has touched, Ellen’s work continues, and her mission lives on.”

—Karen M. Saunders
President, Northeast Regional Cancer Institute