The Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy Applauds President Obama and Congress for Historic Signing of Health Reform Legislation into Law

Silver Spring, MD -- The Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy (CCCA) commends President Obama and Congress for the unprecedented progress it has made towards reforming the current health care system. The newly enacted comprehensive health reform legislation contains key provisions that protect childhood cancer patients and survivors that for years have faced major challenges and gaps in the health care system.

"We thank President Obama and Congress for their leadership, courage, and hard work to provide health care coverage to millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans -- including childhood cancer patients and survivors," stated Susan Weiner, PhD, President and Founder of CCCA. "This landmark public health measure improves access to affordable, comprehensive, and specialized health care for childhood cancer patients and survivors, and includes protections of insurance portability and renewability."

Annually, almost 12,500 children, age 14 years old and younger are diagnosed with cancer. Although there are approximately 300,000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States, as many as two-thirds of these survivors are likely to experience at least one late effect of treatment, and almost one-fourth will experience a late effect that is serious or life-threatening.

Each year, an increased number of childhood cancer patients and survivors are faced with denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions, lifetime and annual caps, increased deductibles and co-payments, forcing them to make extremely difficult decisions about their cancer care. This legislation addresses a number of these challenges and provides critical benefits and protections for even the most vulnerable populations.

Although many provisions of the bill will take some time to implement, a number of them relevant to childhood cancer patients and survivors will go into effect soon after enactment:

• Dependent children will be allowed to remain on their parents' health insurance up to age 26.
• Existing insurance plans will be barred from imposing lifetime caps on coverage.
• Insurers will be prevented from canceling insurance retroactively, except for fraud.
• Insurance plans cannot exclude coverage for pre-existing medical conditions for children under age 19.
• People with medical conditions that make them uninsurable may be able to get coverage through a federally subsidized health insurance program, to be established within 90 days.

Last year, CCCA developed principles for health care reform for childhood cancer patients and survivors (attached) and sent several letters to House and Senate leadership as both chambers worked to finalize their respective health reform proposals. CCCA will work with policymakers throughout the implementation process to ensure the needs of patients, survivors, and their families are fully represented and acted upon.

# # #

CCCA is a leading national advocacy organization that works to achieve access to less toxic and more effective therapies, expand resources for treatment, and address the needs and challenges of childhood cancer survivors and their families. CCCA works to ensure that these needs and perspectives are integrated into the highest deliberations of cancer policy.