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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

breast cancer survivor

NCCS Mourns Former Board Member Kathy LaTour

September 10, 2020
Kathy LaTour, breast cancer survivor, author of The Breast Cancer Companion,…
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NCCS black lives matter statement

Black Lives Matter

June 5, 2020
Black Lives Matter We see you. We hear you. We stand with you. The National Coalition…
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Elevating Survivorship Logo web FB TW

NCCS Elevate Ambassador Kimberly Richardson Launches Educational Program to Pair Scientists with Cancer Survivors

May 29, 2020
Who better to help scientists research cancer than those who live with it?NCCS…
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Remembering Survivorship Leader Elizabeth “Betsy” Clark, PhD

May 26, 2020
We at NCCS are devastated to report the passing of Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy”…
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Health Care Roundup: Insights on Telehealth, Decline in Medical Visits, Standards of Care, and More

May 22, 2020
We aim to make the Health Care Roundup a concise, one-stop summary of what you…
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2020 NCCS Elevate Ambassadors Selected to Improve Survivorship Care in Local Communities

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May 22, 2020
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) is proud to announce 14…
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NCCS News Cancer Policy Matters

NCCS Project Aims to Gain Cancer Survivors’ Insights on Telehealth

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May 22, 2020
This month, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) launched a…
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ASTRO COVID 19 Webinar

Radiation Oncology Care During COVID-19: How Are Cancer Patients Getting Life-Saving Radiation Treatment?

May 11, 2020
The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) has been collecting questions…
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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…
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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…
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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). [...]
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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.

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  • 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

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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