Today, C3 joined with twenty-one groups to send a letter to Congressional leaders about ways Congress can improve the final health care reform bill to make high quality and affordable health care available to cancer patients.
House and Senate Leadership were back at the White House today for another day-long negotiation session aimed at reconciling differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed bills. President Obama is scheduled to met with Democrats this evening at the Democrats’ annual issues conference to talk about health care reform.
Congressional leaders are working to get a final compromise agreed to, and sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) by Friday. CBO will need 10-15 days to analyze the bill and put together a cost estimate. Members want to see a final cost estimate and analysis before voting on the package.
The letter C3 sent asks Congress to:
- Eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions and waiting periods for all individuals in every health insurance market in order to ensure access to care.
- Completely eliminate annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
Many colorectal cancer patients face a lifetime of cancer treatment. Caps on insurance result in very difficult decisions about the care they will receive and how they are going to pay for it.
Eliminating pre-existing conditions exclusions is very important for cancer patients. Pre-existing condition exclusions lock the millions of Americans with at least one chronic illness (nearly one third of the population) into existing plans and employment.
There are a number of additional provisions in both the House-passed and Senate-passed health care reform bills that will affect colorectal cancer patients. Click here to see a chart outlining and comparing these provisions.
C3 will continue to work with legislators to advocate for improvements to the pending bills that will provide all Americans with the access to care that is critical to preventing, treating and beating colorectal cancer.
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