C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition is proud to support The Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection Act of 2007 (HR 3060). Americans age 50-64 are a critical group when considering colorectal cancer. HR 3060 will provide the same protections to non-Medicare beneficiaries that are already provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

Congressman Boren lost his mother to colon cancer nine years ago, and personally understands the need for early detection of the disease.

“Cancer unfortunately has affected millions of lives across the United States,” Boren said. “Coverage is required for many other equally important preventative cancer screenings across the nation. With early detection leading to a 90 percent survival rate, a simple and proven procedure could save the lives of so many (of our) loved ones,” Boren said.

“Colorectal cancer patients have been neglected for too long,” said Carlea Bauman, Executive Director of C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition. “By providing access to screenings for non-Medicare beneficiaries we will see progress against this terrible disease.”

Studies have shown the monthly cost per patient for full colorectal screening coverage is approximately $2.65, while the savings to the employer for medical and non-medical costs is almost $3.00. Once the patient has been diagnosed with the disease, the same monthly cost climbs to almost $5,000 per patient. Additionally, studies have also shown that doctors do not refer their patients for tests if those tests are not covered by insurance.

“Americans deserve these life saving medical benefits and should be able to count on these protections,” Boren said.

Currently, 22 states, including Texas and the District of Columbia, require coverage. Oklahoma does not currently require coverage of these cancer screenings.

Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX) has join congressman Boren in his fight.

On July 19th the House of Representatives approved the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill by a vote of 276 to 140. The bill increases the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to $29.649 billion, an increase of $740 million he Grassroots to above FY 2007 appropriation and $1.028 above the Bush request. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is provided $4.87 billion, an increase of $72.743 million over the FY 2007 amount.

These numbers are nowhere near the request of the Cancer Community.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a Labor-HHS-Education bill that would increase NIH funding by 2.8 percent. This bill will not be considered by the full Senate until September.

President Bush has threatened to veto the Labor-HHS bill unless overall spending is reduced.

These numbers will hurt the progress that has been made in cancer research. It will be up to the Advocate Community to get this message out during the August Congressional recess.

The Fourth of July Congressional recess has passed and the full House is currently voting on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill. The funding levels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are not near what we want. Now what?

It’s time to say it even LOUDER — Research Cures Cancer!!

One of the major sources of cancer research funding comes from the federal government. The FY08 levels are not sufficient to continue the progress we’ve made.

I get as frustrated as you do. Year after year you write the same letters and give the same talking points to your Members of Congress yet the numbers do not seem to be at the appropriate levels. We can’t give up our fight!! Your job as an advocate is to keep the pressure on Congress.

Look at the recent debate over the immigration bill. Congressional offices were flooded with letter, emails, and calls from constituents mostly against the bill. What happened? The bill did not pass.

Constituents can impact their Members of Congress.

The next step is for the LHHS bill to go to conference. The conference committee is appointed by both chambers to resolve disagreements on a particular bill. The conference committee is usually composed of the senior Members of the standing committees of the House and Senate that originally considered the legislation. This committee issues a conference report which must then be approved by both House and Senate and signed by the President.

We still have time!! Keep up the good work.

Earlier today, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their Appropriations bill. The bill includes the largest increase for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in recent memory and is significantly larger than the House bill.

Senator Kohl, Chairman of the Subcommittee, announced $186 million in additional funding for the FDA, which is $120 million above the President’s request.

C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition would like to thank Chairman Kohl and the other Members of the Subcommittee for the substantial increase in funds to FDA. This increase will result in enhanced drug safety for all colorectal cancer patients.

Yesterday the House of Representatives’ Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee marked up its Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations bill. The appropriations bill allocates funds to the Food and Drug Administration. Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) stated that she recognized there is a resource problem at the FDA and made a commitment to multi-year funding.

The FDA is funded at $1.7 billion, $121.5 million (7.7%) above Fiscal Year 2007 and $55 million (3.4%) above the President’s budget request.

Though not as high as hoped for, this is the best FDA budget in recent years.