American Cancer Society - Relay For Life in Braintree

Cancer Programs Across the Nation Are Threatened

States Poised to Cut Health Care Funding

Cancer patients across the country are truly in a fight for their lives as states threaten to cut vital cancer early detection and treatment programs. The worst state budget deficits in half a century mean lawmakers must make painful spending cuts in the next few months. Most states are required by law to produce a balanced budget.

The working poor would be hit hard by proposed eligibility changes that would kick hundreds of thousands out of Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people. In California alone, current proposals would strip nearly 500,000 people of their health care coverage. People who are retired, disabled, and many families with children rely on Medicaid.

The following scenarios may become a reality for cancer patients

Breast cancer: Can you imagine being diagnosed with breast cancer (or any other cancer) and having to live with that knowledge, knowing that you had no way to pay for the treatment that was necessary to save your life? This could happen in Massachusetts, which continues to screen working adults, children, elderly, and disabled people for cancer but may begin to deny Medicaid payments for life-saving chemotherapy.

Budget cuts could also erode more than a decade of work to make screening for breast and cervical cancer, as well as critical medical treatment, available to low income women in every state through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.

No coverage for hospital stays: Vermont’s legislature recently refused to cover hospital costs for non-emergency care for low-income persons. Which means a man diagnosed with cancer through Vermont’s health access program who is told by his doctors that he needs to have surgery immediately to stop the cancer from spreading, would not have his hospital stay costs covered by Medicaid—because he is likely to die several months from now rather than in a day or two. Some hospitals have decided to cover the cost of hospital stays themselves, but they do not know how long they can continue to provide care.

This scenario may very well be repeated in communities all across the country.

Medicaid provides vital health coverage for those who would otherwise be forced to go without treatment. Even seemingly small cuts to benefits or increases in premiums or co-payments can deny health care to low-income working families, children, seniors and people with disabilities.

Why Would Legislators Cut Medicaid?

At least 31 states face very large budget deficits according to the National Conference on State Legislatures, so lawmakers are forced to look for spending cuts wherever possible. Medicaid is a big expense for many states, although it's partly funded by the federal government, which matches every dollar a state contributes. All together, states and the federal government spend more than $250 billion annually to fund Medicaid programs.

More than 40 million people depend on Medicaid for health insurance—primarily needy elderly and disabled people, as well as low-income families. Many of these parents are working at jobs where the pay isn't high enough to lift them out of poverty, nor do their employers offer any private health insurance.

People qualify for Medicaid health coverage by earning incomes below the poverty level. In 2002, the federal government poverty level was around $9,000 for an individual or $18,000 for a family of four, an earning level far below that needed to pay monthly premiums for private insurance coverage.

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