President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order yesterday addressing the drug shortage issue.

As we have reported extensively on www.FightColorectalCancer.org, the current drug shortages have impacted colorectal cancer patients who have been unable to get 5-FU, leucovorin or on occasion, irinotecan.

The Executive Order does not change the law, and it will not help patients who cannot get their drugs today, but it does reinforce the powers of the Food and Drug Administration to take steps that would ease the burden by:

• Broader reporting of when a manufacturer has stopped producing a drug that could lead to a shortage.
• Increased effort to review drug suppliers and manufacturing sites and changes. It also directs the FDA to prioritize its resources according to the burden of the shortage to the public health.
• Collaboration with the Department of Justice to address drug stockpiling and price gouging.

On hand at the signing of the Executive Order was colorectal cancer patient Jay Cuetara, who has spoken out publicly about his experience with the 5-FU shortage. Jay is featured on the White House website talking about how this issue impacts cancer patients.

For more information:

• FDA – Current Drug Shortages
• American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) – Current list of drugs in short supply
• Ask your Members of Congress to support legislation that will further address this issue
• Fight Colorectal Cancer’s drug shortage FAQ

After 25 straight days of debate, by a vote of 60-39, today the Senate approved the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In January, the House and Senate will begin the difficult task of reconciling the differences between the bills they have passed.

There are a number of 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.

The two key differences between the House and Senate bills are the public option and pay-fors.  The House bill would create a government-sponsored insurance plan (i.e., a public option), but the Senate bill is silent on this point.  How to finance the health care expansion is also a contentious issue.  House members refused to consider the so-called Cadillac tax (i.e., a tax on expensive insurance plans) but the Senate has taken the opposite approach to financing and included a wealth surtax (the so-called millionaires’ tax) rather than including a Cadillac tax.  The House bill also has stricter language against funding for abortion.

While negotiators are expected to closely adhere to the Senate-passed bill  in order to ensure the 60 votes needed to pass a final conference report in the Senate, they will have to make some changes in conference in order to keep the support of House Democrats.  The House version of the bill passed by only three votes, and the Speaker knows that rank and file members will not accept a final conference report without changes.

Leadership and committee staff are expected to start meeting in the next week to design a framework for the final negotiations and committee chairs are expected to be back in DC the first week of 2010 to start negotiating in earnest.

Congressional leaders hope to send a final bill to President Obama by the end of January or early February.

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.  Click here to see a chart outlining and comparing the provisions in the House-passed and Senate-passed bills that will affect colorectal cancer patients.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving comments below.

In his speech before a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009, President Obama called out colorectal cancer screening as saving both money and lives.  To applause from listening members of Congress, he said:

And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.

We applaud the President’s public acknowledgment that colorectal cancer screening saves lives and money.

Screening saves lives by finding cancers early when they are most treatable.  Screening also prevents colorectal cancer by finding and removing precancerous polyps, which keeps them from ever growing into cancer.

Colorectal cancer screening is cost-effective, as evidenced by multiple analyses (see below), which is one reason Medicare began to cover screening in the late 1990’s.

However:

• Unlike preventive screenings like mammograms and pap tests, colorectal cancer screening is not always defined as “preventive care,” so deductibles and co-pays may apply. In other words, even people with insurance may have to pay up to their deductible or pay a part of the cost to get screened for colorectal cancer.
• People without insurance are much less likely to be screened … and with the skyrocketing cost of treatment, Medicare spending for treatment of colorectal cancer is increasing rapidly.

Thanks to hard work by C3 and advocates such as yourself, a national screening program for the un- and under-insured has been proposed in Congress:

• HR 1189:  Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act

Once passed, the program has the potential to save over 30,000 lives and $15 BILLION (through Medicare savings) every year.   It will build on success of the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The NBCCEDP has provided over 8 million screenings since 1991.  Think of the lives that will be saved once a national colorectal program is in place!

President Obama highlighted screening colonoscopies because they save  lives and money.  If you agree, you can urge your elected officials to take action.

More about screening and colonoscopies

Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. Even the simplest fecal occult blood testing can reduce deaths from colon and rectal cancer by 30 percent.

A colonoscopy examines the entire colon all the way to the cecum at its very beginning.  If a polyp is found, it can be both biopsied and removed. If an early cancer is detected, it can be treated and cured.

Other screening methods search for hidden blood or changed DNA in the stool. If it is found, a follow-up colonoscopy searches for polyps or early cancers. CT colonography, or virtual colonoscopy, uses x-rays to take pictures of the interior of the colon and rectum.  Again if polyps or cancers are uncovered, colonoscopy is used to remove polyps or biopsy potential early cancers.

Colonoscopy screenings also save money. A program in New York City that uses colonoscopy to screen low-income people without insurance found that if Medicare paid for colonoscopy screening for average risk individuals ages 50 to 64, it would save $2 in later treatment expense for every $1 that the screenings and early treatment cost.

Screening Legislation in the US Congress

Currently there are several bills in Congress designed to expand access to colorectal cancer screening, both for the uninsured and for those with insurance.

• HR 1189: Colorectal Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Treatment Act of 2009 would establish a national screening program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and give states the option to provide medical assistance for men and women screened and found to have colorectal cancer or colorectal polyps.
• HR 1330: Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection Coverage Act of 2009 would require that group health plans provide colorectal cancer screening for plan participants who were 50 and over or who were at high risk for colorectal cancer.  Co-pays would be limited to 5 percent of the payment amount and would not be subject to deductible.  In addition, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to require an individual who is a participant or beneficiary to undergo colorectal cancer screening.”
• S 717: 21st Century Cancer ALERT (Access to Life-Saving Early detection, Research and Treatment) Act includes a section on colorectal cancer screening that would provide grants to states and tribal organizations for colorectal cancer screening for people who lack adequate insurance to cover screening.  It would also allow states the option of using Medicaid to cover colorectal cancer treatment cancer found during those screenings.
• S 1511: Supporting ColoRectal Examination and Education Now (SCREEN) Act of 2009 makes a number of changes in existing legislation that would encourage colorectal cancer screening, awareness, and education and reduce out-of-pocket costs.

Some Research Evidence for Screening Cost Effectiveness

• Pignone M, Rich M, Teutsch SM, Berg AO, Lohr KN. Screening for colorectal cancer in adults at average risk: a summary of the evidence for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine 2002;137(2):132-41.
• Vijan S, Hwang EW, Hofer TP, Hayward RA. Which colon cancer screening test? A comparison of costs, effectiveness, and compliance. Am J Med 2001;111(8):593-601.
• Frazier AL, Colditz GA, Fuchs CS, Kuntz KM. Cost-effectiveness of screening for colorectal cancer in the general population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 2000;284(15):1954-61.

President Obama appointed Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) as his nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

If Sebelius is confirmed by the Senate, it will fill the void left by former Senator Tom Daschle’s departure. Daschle withdrew his name after controversy over unpaid taxes.

Along with Sebelius, Obama chose Nancy Ann DeParle as the Administration’s pick to lead the President’s plan to reform the American Health Care System.

Click here to read Governor Kathleen Sebelius’ bio

After passage in both the House and Senate on Friday, President Barack Obama is set to sign the very controversial $787 billion economic stimulus package in Denver today.

As I reported last week, the economic stimulus includes $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health ($8.5 billion for research and $1.5 billion for extramural facility improvements).

The $10 billion will be an influx of funding for the struggling agency. The funding will help jump start research projects that have been shelved due to five years of flat funding.

Click here to see how the stimulus is going to break down.

Former Senator Tom Daschle

Former Senator Tom Daschle, President Obama’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, formally withdrew his name from consideration today.

“This morning Tom Daschle asked me to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services. I accept his decision with sadness and regret,” President Obama said.

Daschle cited that his failure to pay over $100,000 in income taxes would pose as a “distraction.”

“I have just informed the President that I am withdrawing my name from consideration for Secretary of Health and Human Services,” said Daschle. “If 30 years of exposure to the challenges inherent in our system has taught me anything, it has taught me that this work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction….Right now, I am not that leader, and will not be a distraction.”

President Barack Obama

Barack Obama once again made history when yesterday he recited the presidential oath of office, and became the first African American President of the United States. Now, on January 21st, President Obama will begin to face the serious challenges plaguing our country head on.

It is estimated that nearly two million people braved the cold to witness the inauguration of the 44th President. With hope and determination in their souls, they listened intently as he gave his address.

“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task,” Obama said during his address.

“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall. And why a man whose father, less than 60 years ago, might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.” (The Hill, 1-21-09)

The newly inaugurated president has already begun to tackle many of the nation’s pressing issues; with the largest being the economic crisis that currently has a strangle hold on our country.

In addition to this great task, President Obama has promised to reform the current health care system in the United States. In his address he only briefly touched on health care, and specifically, only on the use of information technology to modernize how health care is currently delivered; but during his campaign he released his plan in which he laid out how he is going to fight cancer. He has promised to double federal funding for cancer research within five years, and also to pass legislation ensuring all Americans have access to preventative health care services, including colorectal cancer screenings.

During his time as an Illinois State Senator, Obama helped to pass legislation that guaranteed colorectal cancer screenings for individuals in Illinois. Now, as our 44th President, we hope Mr. Obama will do the same for the rest of America.

Starting from day one, C3 and our advocates will be doing our best to make sure we hold President Obama to his word. We hope through cooperation we can finally end the pain and suffering that comes from this disease.

C3 would like to wish President Obama and Vice President Biden all the luck in the world.

Click here to read President Obama’s Inaugural Address