Colorado ACS CAN Holds Rally at State Capital

Cancer Community Alarmed by Budget Cuts 

Denver, Colorado- Cancer survivors and advocates plan to rally at the State Capitol Wednesday in response to the Legislature’s intent to cut millions of dollars from life saving cancer screening and treatment programs to balance the state budget.  With one in every two men and one in every three women facing a cancer diagnosis in their life time, advocates are speaking out to remind the legislature that in tough economic times we are still combating these alarming statistics, creating a critical need for safety net cancer programs now more than ever.

            “The people served by these programs are uninsured and in many cases have no where else to go for life saving cancer screening and treatment.” said Dana Dzwonkowski, Colorado Director of Government Relations for ACS CAN. “When funding for these programs is cut so drastically, those who would have been screened and diagnosed early, will be left to get worse, likely to the point where cure is no longer an option”

            Similar to the past two years, the Legislature has opted to cut funding to safety net programs that screen and treat uninsured Coloradoans for breast, cervical and colon cancer.  Deep cuts are also being proposed for the Colorado Quitline and the state tobacco control program.  Cuts to these programs will ultimately translate into a hefty price tag for the state down the line when less people have quit smoking and more people have grown ill with late state cancer gone undetected.

            “In 2009, I had just lost my job and my insurance.  Thankfully I was able to access a mammogram through the Women’s Wellness Connection”, said breast cancer survivor and Komen volunteer Largressa Munnerlyn.  “Had my cancer not been detected through the WWC program, I could have lost my life to breast cancer. As a result of the proposed cuts, over 5,000 women will not have the same life saving access that I had.”

           

Collectively, these programs have saved the state millions of dollars in future health care costs by helping over 25,000 smokers quit last year alone, and screening over 65,000 uninsured Coloradoans for breast, cervical and colon cancer since 2007.  With these programs facing cuts between 44 and 75 percent, the most vulnerable will be forced to forego routine screenings and smoking cessation services. When these programs serve fewer people, Colorado’s uninsured are put at risk and the state is burdened with the long term Medicaid costs of treating late stage cancer and smoking related illness.   

“Access to routine cancer screenings is critical to detecting many cancers in their early and most treatable stages.  Equally as important is access to counseling and treatment services for those who want to quit smoking” said Dzwonkowski. “This year in Colorado, an estimated 18,900 people will be diagnosed with cancer and 6,700 will die from the disease.  We want our lawmakers to support legislation which will help reduce the burden of cancer across the state.”

Roxanne Johnson, Executive Director of the Colorado Cancer Coalition, expressed deep concern at the proposed scaling back of life saving cancer programs, saying, “As a cancer survivor and long time cancer advocate I have seen first hand the devastating effects this disease has on a person’s spirit and quality of life.”  Johnson continued, “The nearly 700 members of the Cancer Coalition  have worked tirelessly to reduce cancer incidence and increase early detection in Colorado, it’s devastating to know that these cuts will cause us to take so many steps backward in that endeavor.”

            ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.