Health reform is back in the news this week.  Why?  Today marks the six-month anniversary of the President signing this landmark legislation into law and several of the most-talked about and popular provisions of the law take effect today.

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By Jay Angoff, Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight

Jay Angoff (image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

If you or a loved one has lived with cancer – you probably know more about the American health insurance system than you ever wanted. While most Americans have health insurance, few really know much about how their insurance works until the worst possible moment, when they are sick and need potentially life-saving care.

During the health reform debate, President Obama talked about the devastation of watching his mother battle both ovarian cancer and her insurance company. Unfortunately, such stories are all too common.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, fewer cancer patients are going to have to fight that two-front war. And many of the new patient rights and protections that will help cancer patients are beginning to take effect NOW, starting September 23rd. Read the rest of this entry »

This afternoon the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifted a temporary injunction barring the federal government from funding research involving human embryonic stem cell research. The Court said that the federal government could resume funding the research pending a full appeal of the case.

Carlea Bauman, President of the Colorectal Cancer Coaliton issued the following statement after the ruling,

“We applaud the Court of Appeals for its action. Embryonic stem cell research plays an important role in the scientific battle against many diseases – and federal funding is vital to this type of research. We urge Congress to act quickly so that not another day is wasted.”

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In the past, we have held quarterly conference calls to hear from you about the great work each and every one of you has been doing in the fight against colorectal cancer and to update you on what we have been working on and what Congress has been up to. But you all have been doing too much for us to only hear from you once a quarter!

Starting next month, we will be holding advocate chats once a month. The calls will be held on the first Wednesday of every month at 8:15PM EDT.

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Image courtesy of SONY Pictures TV

Did Dr. Oz scare you today?

The chances of your colonoscopy resulting in the made-for-TV near-death experience that Dr. Mehmet Oz detailed in a six-part video series on his show and website are highly unlikely. See, Dr. Oz didn’t have a near-death experience, and his colonoscopy story is very common. So can we cut it out with the hysterics, Dr. Oz? You’re scaring people.

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