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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

After three days of general debate, the Senate voted on four amendments to its health care reform bill today.  The Senate will continue with debate on additional amendments this evening.  

As the Senate moves forward with consideration of additional amendments, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is planning on offering an amendment requiring that all third-party payers cover routine patient care costs incurred by patients enrolled in clinical trials.  The amendment will apply to all phases of clinical trials for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are a number of provisions in both the House and Senate health care reform bills that will affect colorectal cancer patients.  Click here to see a chart outlining and comparing these provisions.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Catherine Knowles, C3’s Director of Policy

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson (NE) announced this afternoon that he will vote for cloture on the motion to proceed Saturday.

Continue reading to see exactly what Senator Nelson said, and for additional updates on the pending vote. Read the rest of this entry »