Seniors’ access to a screening colonoscopy is at risk and YOU can help!

We need you to continue to add your voice and urge your Representative to support H.R. 4120! Simply submit an Action Alert.

H.R. 4120, the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2012, will fix a regulation that requires Medicare beneficiaries to pay coinsurance when their screening colonoscopy involves the removal of a polyp. The current policy can cost patients $100 to $300 and serve as a deterrent to screening.

We need cosponsors for this legislation if it is to pass into law & YOU can help!

Fight Colorectal Cancer advocates from around the country took the fight against the disease to Capitol Hill Wednesday to ask lawmakers for their support for legislation that will fund cancer research and screening programs.

Advocates held more than 85 meetings on Capitol Hill, capping two days of training sessions during Fight Colorectal Cancer’s 6th annual Call-on Congress Conference, held March 5 – 7. Sessions held by cancer experts, researchers and Fight Colorectal Cancer staff armed advocates with statistics, talking points and information about key legislation to combat colorectal cancer.  More than 60 advocates, who traveled from 22 states, participated in the conference and were encouraged to share their personal stories of battling the disease.

Liz Dennis, a survivor of stage III colorectal cancer, traveled to Washington, DC, from Arizona to share her personal story about colorectal cancer, and to ask her lawmakers to commit to funding for screening programs and research so that fewer people have the same experience. “I never want to go through that battle again,” she said. “And I have lost too many friends to this disease. I am here because I am determined to see a cure for colorectal cancer in my lifetime.”

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On Tuesday, March 6, Fight Colorectal Cancer advocates attending the 6th annual Call-on Congress heard from staff and experts about the challenges to spreading awareness of and increasing research into colorectal cancer amid national budget challenges.

Erica and Ethan Lee of Sacramento, Calif., participate in Call-on Congress training sessions.

Training sessions with Fight Colorectal Cancer staff gave advocates a real world view of the policy and legislative landscape for colorectal cancer. They were given information about key legislation, statistics and talking points for their meetings with lawmakers that will occur on Wednesday.

“It’s so exciting to be here in Washington and on Capitol Hill to see how it all works,” said Erica Lee, an advocate from California who is attending the conference. “It’s easy to complain about ‘politicians in Washington, DC,’ but here I’m part of the solution.” Erica recently lost her mother, Diane, to colorectal cancer.

Advocates can also access a virtual toolbox of outreach strategies, via the Fight Colorectal Cancer website under the Policy and Advocacy tab. Anyone interested in proposed legislation that Fight Colorectal Cancer supports can also find information in the Action Center.

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Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) died early this morning from colon cancer.

Representative Payne announced last month that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer but expected to make a full recovery. However, last week he took a sudden turn for the worse and was flown home to New Jersey where he was placed in hospice care at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. He was 77.

The first black member of Congress from New Jersey, Representative Payne served the 10th Congressional District for 23 years. He was planning to run for a twelfth term this year, vowing to run again only last month.

A strong champion for human rights in Africa, militants fired mortar shell at his plane as it left Mogadishu in 2009. He was the author of the Sudan Peace Act, which condemned genocide and helped bring famine relief to civilians starving in the Sudan.

He was also a tireless advocate for education, saying in 1991,

Education and training get you jobs. Jobs get you your housing, health care and other needs. It’s really the key to all the social problems of the district.

President Obama has ordered flags at the White House lowered to half staff. Governor Christie has ordered all flags in New Jersey lowered as well.

Fight Colorectal Cancer mourns the loss of Congressman Donald Payne and the nearly 140 Americans who will die of colon or rectal cancer today.

Washington, DC – Fight Colorectal Cancer hosts their 6th Annual Call-on Congress beginning today, in Washington, DC.

More than 60 advocates, including colorectal cancer survivors, caregivers, physicians and researchers, are gathering in the nation’s capital this week to hear from experts about current research and cancer control programs and to take part in advocacy activities on Capitol Hill.

“Our volunteers are activists who are bringing the fight against colorectal cancer to Washington to get more attention and more funding for this disease,” said Fight Colorectal Cancer President Carlea Bauman. “By speaking up and demanding change, they are making a difference in the fight against colorectal cancer.”

Advocates arrive in Washington today for the start of Call-on Congress

Tomorrow, advocates will receive training on how to have effective meetings with their legislators. On Wednesday, March 7th, the advocates will participate in more than 80 meetings in Congress to ask for support for the following pieces of legislation:

• Medicare Cost Sharing for Screening Colonoscopy.  This legislation will amend current law to waive coinsurance for colorectal cancer screening colonoscopy by correcting the coinsurance gap that exists under current Medicare policy.  Although colorectal cancer screening is covered by Medicare, beneficiaries may still be liable for coinsurance  if a polyp is detected and removed, because the screening can be reclassified as a diagnostic procedure.

Fight Colorectal Cancer asks Congress to support legislation that waives coinsurance for screening colonoscopy that also involves removal of polyps during the same encounter.

• Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Colorectal Cancer Control Program. Currently the program provides funding to 25 states and four tribal organizations for colorectal cancer screening targeted at low-income men and women, aged 50-64,who are uninsured or underinsured.  The CDC has set a goal in 2012 of screening 66 percent of adults aged 50-75 and a long-term screening goal of 88 percent by the year 2020.  Reaching these goals requires a commitment from Congress.

Fight Colorectal Cancer asks Congress to fund the Colorectal Cancer Control program at $70 million in the next fiscal year, which will allow the program to be expanded nationally. 

• Funding for Colorectal Cancer Research.  Advocates will ask members of Congress to demonstrate their commitment to colorectal cancer research by taking two important actions:

Support an increase in funding to the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP). Funding for the PRCRP was cut 29 percent  last year.

Fight Colorectal Cancer asks Congress to provide $16 million in FY 2013 for the PRCRP to restore funding to FY 2011 levels.

Support increased funding for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The NCI is one of 27 institutes at the National Institutes of Health and leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death from cancer.

Fight Colorectal Cancer asks Congress to fund the NIH at $32.7 billion in FY2013, which will provide NCI with $5.36 billion in funding.

Follow updates from Call-on Congress at FightColorectalCancer.org, Facebook, and Twitter (hashtag #ConC2012).

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