NOTE: I'm the Clinton campaign's Internet Director
I wanted to share a clip of Hillary from today's LIVESTRONG Forum:
And here's Hillary's plan to fight cancer:
Cancer is the leading cause of death in this country for people under age 85. One in two men and one in three women will get cancer in their lifetime. About 1.4 million new cancer cases are expected in the United States in 2007, and more than 1,500 people per day will die of cancer. NIH estimates the overall cost of cancer in the U.S. in 2006 was about $206 billion for direct medical costs and lost productivity due to illness and early death. As President, Hillary Clinton will invest the necessary resources so that our nation is on a path to achieve the National Cancer Institute's goal of ending death and suffering from cancer by 2015 through.
Ending Insurance Discrimination. Today, insurance companies spend millions of dollars working to discriminate against those with expensive, pre-existing conditions by denying them coverage or treatment. Cancer patients are those most victimized by insurance company practices of trying not to cover care when it's needed most. In order to end insurance discrimination, Hillary Clinton will:
- Create a guarantee issue system. A "guarantee issue" system, built on the concept of shared responsibility, allows anyone to join a health insurance plan.
- Reducing marketing costs and improving value for the premium dollar. Under a universal coverage plan with real insurance regulations, insurers would compete on low costs and high quality, not on successful underwriting and deceptive marketing practices.
Ending Genetic Discrimination. Today, many Americans, especially those with a history of cancer in their family, are fearful of getting genetic tests, because they are worried they will be denied health insurance even though these tests could enable them to make changes in their lifestyle or obtain more regular screenings that could save their lives. Insurance companies would not be allowed to require genetic tests or consider the results of any test when determining eligibility for or cost of health insurance.
Increased federal funding for cancer. Cancer research has made remarkable progress in prevention, detection, and treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, the absolute number of cancer deaths declined for the second consecutive year last year. Despite these advances, research funding is not keeping pace. If the current situation continues, there will be lasting damage, even if funding is increased in future years. As President, Hillary Clinton will:
- Double the NIH and NCI budgets. She has proposed to increase the NIH budget by 50% over five years and double the budget in ten. She will call for comparable increases to the National Cancer Institute's budget.
- Expand the Cancer Centers program so that every American lives within the service area of an NCI Cancer Center. Today, there are 18 states with no Cancer Center, including large swaths of the country. As President, Hillary will expand this vital program so that it is in reach for every American living with cancer.
- Increase by fivefold the number of patients participating in cancer clinical trials. This will require expanding access to experimental cancer therapies at NCI Cancer Centers; increasing the Community Clinical Oncology Group, which places underserved populations in rural and urban areas in community-based clinical trails; increasing funding for the cancer clinical cooperative group; and increasing the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORES) program, which conduct research on different types of cancer.
- Preserve Medicare coverage of clinical trials. President Clinton issued an Executive Memorandum in 2000 requiring Medicare to cover the routine costs associated with participation in clinical trials. The Bush Administration has proposed abandoning this simple system in favor of one that is much more complex and likely to deter researchers from using Medicare patients as part of their trials. Senator Clinton will maintain the successful Clinton-era set of rules for enrolling Medicare participants in clinical trials.
A Smart Approach to Prevention and Early Detection. According to the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee, we could prevent up to two-thirds of all deaths from cancer if Americans consumed a healthy diet, got their cancer screenings, used sunscreen and minimized sun exposure, exercised, and refrained from smoking. Hillary will promote a five-tiered approach to preventing and detecting cancer early:
- Require all insurers participating in federal programs to cover prevention priorities:
- Target prevention by coordinating and pooling public funding:
- Increase access to screening tools that have been shown to work. In 2006, the biggest decrease in cancer deaths was instances of colorectal cancer in men and women. This decrease occurred because of increased screening and early treatment. Hillary will:
- promote a national education campaign to increase awareness about effective screening, such as mammograms, colorectal screening, and the HPV vaccine;
- require group and individual health plans to cover colorectal cancer screenings;
- authorize a colorectal cancer early detection and treatment demonstration program to serve at least 2 million low-income, uninsured individuals ages 50-64;
- remove Medicare co-pays for colorectal and breast cancer screenings and extend the Welcome to Medicare visit time limit from six months to one year;
- fully fund the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program; and
- invest in research aimed at identifying the molecular and genetic combinations that make people more or less susceptible to different types of cancer
- Help smokers quit and decrease the chances of young people starting to smoke. Senator Clinton will:
- Enable the FDA to restrict advertising of tobacco products to children and stop illegal sales of tobacco products to children by finally enacting the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
- Promote smoking cessation programs and fund them by increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes.
- Provide coverage for comprehensive smoking cessation in Medicaid.
- Put physical education and sports programs back in schools and take the junk food out. As President, Hillary will:
- increase funding for the Carol White Physical Education program, the only federal program aimed at improving physical education programs in schools, by 50% - $36 million - and ensure that this funding gets to underserved communities with the highest rates of childhood obesity;
- implement a healthy schools program that will provide funding for schools that commit to replacing all unhealthy food in schools with healthy food by the year 2012
- Improved Quality of Care for Americans Living with Cancer. In order to improve the quality of care for cancer patients, Hillary will:
- Provide funding for demonstration programs for comprehensive care and communication models. She will propose $50 million to support the development of comprehensive care and communication plans (plans that let patients know what to expect with respect to their treatment) for patients in underserved areas and those enrolled in Medicare..
- Develop patient-friendly decision aids to promote informed patient choice.
- Reduce racial and ethnic disparities in care. She will provide $50 million in federal funding for the development of culturally and linguistically competent clinical care programs, to ensure that our healthcare providers can communicate with their patients and have training and skills to fully understand and respect cultural differences in the patients they serve.
- New "Paperless" Health Information Technology System. Standardized electronic medical records will make possible significant advances in research, detection, treatment, and care over the long-term while empowering doctors and other healthcare providers to communicate electronically, reducing waste and redundancy, and improving safety and quality by reducing medical errors.
- Environmental Health Tracking. Hillary will expand the Centers for Disease Control biomonitoring work, establish a nationwide tracking network to help identify connections between disease and environment and develop a response system for addressing public health threats. This plan will enable us to identify the linkage between cancer and other chronic diseases and environmental factors.
- Enhanced Support for Survivors. Cancer treatments save lives, but they often have serious side effects and long-term impacts that we don't yet fully understand. In addition, adolescent and young adult survivors face unique physical and emotional challenges, and there is a paucity of research on how to best treat and support them. As President, Hillary will undertake a federal survivorship initiative to:
- Increase our Understanding of Survivor Health. By developing a survivorship study - an epidemiologic tracking of cancer survivors - with a particular focus on adolescents and young adults, we will be able to better understand the long-term health impacts of cancer treatments. We can then factor this information into approach to treating cancers so that we not only save lives, but also improve the quality of life during and after treatment.
- Improving Access to Support Groups. The CDC will provide $25 million to community-based groups, in conjunction with the health care institutions providing cancer treatment, to run survivorship support groups that allow cancer survivors to meet with other survivors in their communities and gain the support and information that would not necessarily be provided by health care professionals.
- Special focus on young people. Adolescent and young adults diagnosed with cancer face different challenges than older individuals: they may feel more isolated; wrestle with body image and fertility issues; they are more likely to lack health insurance; and they have not yet lived out their dreams. Hillary will dedicate 10% of the funding within the survivorship study to analyzing the long term impact of cancer on adolescents and young adults.
Guaranteed, high quality health care coverage for all. Nearly 45 million Americans lack health insurance and about 16 million more are underinsured. Universal health care with a high quality meaningful prescription drug benefit will help those without insurance and those with underinsurance obtain the treatment they need.