Cancer awareness blogs

Five ways healthcare reform helps cancer patients

By Liz
March 31, 2010

Isn’t it amazing the level of crazy we’ve reached as a nation due to the passage of the healthcare reform package? Protesters hurling racial slurs? Cries of “baby killer” on the floor of Congress? And death threats aimed at our legislators? It is difficult to get an accurate read on what the bill will and will not do. Every story you read tells a different story and carries a different slant.

Regardless of your political leanings, there’s no denying there are several benefits in the new bill that positively impact cancer patients. The bill may not be perfect, in fact it most definitely is not. But it takes some important steps in easing the burdens of Americans, especially Americans with cancer. What gets lost in all of the rhetoric is the fact that the people who need healthcare are our friends, family and neighbors struggling to deal with the health, emotional and financial implications of illness every day.
Healthcare reform will benefit cancer patients in the following ways:

• People with pre-existing conditions will not be denied coverage. This will help women who have been treated for breast cancer.
• Young adults with cancer will not be uninsured after college. They can remain on their parents’ policies until they are 26. In this economic climate, where jobs are hard to come by, especially for the sick, that is a big plus.
• There is no longer a cap on the amount of care/insurance patients can receive. Cancer has no cap on how much it affects us, so insurance shouldn’t either.
• Older cancer patients will benefit from the closing of the Medicare donut hole easing a significant financial burden.

And on the preventative front,

• It will be easier for women to get much needed preventative screenings such as mammograms.
• Tanning beds will be taxed. And isn’t it a good thing to make access to the sun’s harmful rays more expensive?

What do you think about the new healthcare changes?

Leave a comment below!

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