What Caught Our Eye: Next Steps for the ACA; Gottlieb's Confirmation; ASCO Statement on Right-to-Try; Gene Mutations in Childhood Survivors - NCCS - National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

What Caught Our Eye (WCOE), April 7, 2017
What Caught Our Eye is our week-in-review blog series, where we recap the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention.

In the Spotlight

Cancer Survivor, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), speaks on the House floor about the importance of medical research funding

"I speak not just as a politician but as someone who has a preexisting condition. I'm a cancer survivor."-@RepRaskin https://t.co/fwZX2FXRRc pic.twitter.com/GGx3Yb0OZG

— Rep. Jamie Raskin (@RepRaskin) April 3, 2017

Affordable Care Act

“GOP Has No Choice But To Keep Pushing Health Care Rock Up The Hill”

GOP Has No Choice But to Keep Pushing Health Care Rock Up the Hill: https://t.co/UoZE2EWC2B via @khnews @jrovner #AHCA #RepealAndReplace

— Kaiser Health News (@KHNews) April 6, 2017

Via Kaiser Health News — Chris Jacobs, a longtime Republican staff member explained that while the GOP mantra has been “repeal and replace” for several years, “there are differences between the repealers and the replacers. They are two fundamentally distinct approaches separated by the word ‘and.’”

“Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – April 2017: The Fall of the AHCA and Next Steps for the ACA”

NEW: Despite divided views on #ACA, three quarters of public want President Trump to try to make #ACA work https://t.co/WmGxCGDi1H pic.twitter.com/2611XUzt0y

— KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) (@KFF) April 4, 2017

Some key findings of the most recent Kaiser tracking poll: the public thinks it’s a “good thing” that the AHCA failed, believes President Trump and the Republican party are responsible for problems with the ACA going forward, and want to see the Trump administration make the ACA work for consumers.“Despite divided views towards the 2010 health law, three-fourths of the public think President Trump and his administration should do what they can to make the current health care law work – including a majority of Democrats and independents and half (51 percent) of Republicans.”

“Iowa just lost half its Obamacare insurers”

Iowa just lost half its Obamacare insurers https://t.co/cJwUnxjA6N

— Vox (@voxdotcom) April 6, 2017

Via Vox.com — “Health insurers across the country are making decisions right now about whether they want to participate in Obamacare’s marketplace next year. These Iowa insurers are among the first to make up their minds — and have decided that the Obamacare marketplaces are just too risky of an investment in an era of repeal and replace.”

Cancer Policy

“FDA nominee says agency must strike right balance between risk, regulation”

Scott Gottlieb: The FDA must strike right balance between risk, regulation https://t.co/fMOBETzpOT pic.twitter.com/YU8ZgFtZqu

— STAT (@statnews) April 5, 2017

Via Stat News — Scott Gottlieb, Nominee for FDA Commissioner: “I know what’s at stake here. People’s lives are literally on the line when it comes to the decisions FDA makes, its oversight, and its enforcement of Congress’s laws.”

“ASCO Supports Strengthening FDA Expanded Access Program, Opposes Right-to-Try Measures as Ineffective and Potentially Harmful to Patients”

Our position statement on access to investigational drugs supports more access & raises concerns about right-to-try https://t.co/3Ah6FgCYwK pic.twitter.com/yLtz47Prm9

— ASCO (@ASCO) April 4, 2017

Via an ASCO Statement — “ASCO supports access to investigational drugs outside of clinical trials when there are adequate patient protections in place. However, ASCO is concerned that existing and proposed RTT laws do not adequately protect patients, do little to facilitate patient access to such therapies, and potentially interfere with recent reforms that are already streamlining patients’ access to investigational agents.”

“Why Medications Are So Expensive (In One Map)”

Why #Medications Are So Expensive (In One Map). New post @forbeshealth @DukeU @dukemargolis #pharma #drugs https://t.co/X5wwygBLfu pic.twitter.com/5oq4kz8dAu

— Peter Ubel (@peterubel) April 7, 2017

Coping with Cancer

“Many Childhood Cancer Survivors Carry Mutations in Cancer Predisposition Genes, Raising Risk of Later Disease”

Many childhood cancer survivors carry mutations in cancer predisposition genes raising risk of later disease https://t.co/KnNlVPz6oH #AACR17

— AACR (@AACR) April 5, 2017

Via an AACR News Release — “The remarkable advances realized over the past four decades in the treatment and survival of pediatric cancer patients is one of the most notable success stories within the cancer field,” said the study’s co-senior author, Les Robison, PhD, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. “However, childhood cancer survivors are at increased risk of subsequent neoplasms, largely considered to be therapy-related.”

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