Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), co-chairs of the Congressional Cancer Survivors Caucus, introduced H.R. 3835, the Cancer Care Planning and Communications Act (CCPCA). A legislative priority of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS), the bill would create a Medicare service to ...

Last week, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments in the Texas v. United States case that has the potential to invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Two judges asked pointed questions that seemed sympathetic to the case against the ACA. While ...

White House Releases FY 2020 Budget – Earlier this week, the White House released the President’s Budget. This year's budget proposes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cap Medicaid, and cuts federal health spending by $659 billion over 10 years. The budget also proposes shaving $818 ...

FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Announces Resignation — On Tuesday, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, announced that he would be resigning in the next month. Two focus areas during Commissioner Gottlieb’s tenure at the FDA include curbing vaping and making generic drugs more accessible. Dr. Gottlieb says ...

Senate Finance Hearing on Drug Pricing — The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing this week on drug pricing, and Senators questioned seven CEOs from top pharmaceutical companies. While Senators of both parties asked tough questions about pricing practices and price increases, some experts suggested that the hearing was tamer ...

This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published new health care spending projections for the United States. Unsurprisingly, Medicare spending growth is projected to outpace that of other payers in the coming decade due to enrollment growth and higher use of services. See a breakdown of the ...

Health Care Bills Discussed, ACA Lawsuit News – A group of Democratic lawmakers this week introduced legislation that would allow for a “Medicare Buy-In,” meaning Americans at age 50 could buy into the program for their health care coverage. Spearheaded by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI-D) and Rep. Brian Higgins (NY-26), ...

Drug Pricing at SOTU; House Health Care Hearing — At the State of the Union address, President Trump stated that two of his administration’s health care priorities are to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions and lower drug prices. The address did not specify how to achieve those goals. NCCS commented ...

This week, the House and Senate held several hearings related to health care, including a House Ways and Means Committee hearing titled “Protecting Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions.” The hearing illustrated the stark difference between the two parties’ health care goals. There were also dueling drug pricing hearings this week, one ...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released recently a proposed rule to change Medicare Part D’s protected classes drug coverage. In response, NCCS joined with other patient and provider groups of the Cancer Leadership Council (CLC) to comment on how these proposed changes could impact patients. The proposed ...