WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today Congresswoman Lois Capps joined her fellow Cancer Caucus Co-Chairs, Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-OH) and Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) to introduce the Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act (ACCTA).  Clinical trials are a critical part of the effort to win the war on cancer.  The research derived from these studies improves treatment options and hopefully will ultimately provide a cure for cancer.  Yet despite the importance of this research, currently only 3% of cancer patients enrolls in clinical trials.  Part of the problem is that many health insurers refuse coverage for a patient’s routine care costs if they enroll in a clinical trial.  The bipartisan Access to Cancer Clinical Trials Act would ensure health care coverage for cancer patients who participate in clinical trials by preventing insurers from denying coverage to clinical trials enrollees who seek treatment in a cancer clinical trial. 

 “This legislation in an important part of our country’s comprehensive approach to fighting and winning the war on cancer,” said Capps, a nurse and Member of the Health Subcommittee.  “By ensuring health care coverage for cancer patients who participate in clinical trials, our bill provides two critical resources in the fight against cancer: access to quality care and hope.    Participation in clinical trials is essential to finding treatments, and ultimately a cure, for cancer. This bill ensures that patients who are willing to participate in cutting edge clinical trials will not be penalized by their insurance providers for pursuing the hope that this research offers.”

 “According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.4 million people will be diagnosed this year with cancer,” said Pryce.  “Last year, however, only 36,000 – a measly 3% -- of those patients enrolled in a clinical trial, fearing that their insurer will drop them from coverage.  Often, the patients' only hope rests in a clinical trial, and this bill will allow them to focus their energies on beating this dreaded disease -- not dealing with the red tape of insurance companies.”

 “Today, cancer patients for whom a clinical trial might be an option are left with an incomprehensibly difficult, life and death, Catch-22 decision – forego a life-prolonging treatment in fear of losing their health plan coverage, or enroll in a clinical trial and lose their routine care insurance coverage with devastating financial consequences,” Pryce added.

“Cancer is a devastating disease, and we need to broaden treatment options so that patients have access to the most cutting-edge research available,” Israel said. “In our fight against terrorism, we will pay any price and deploy any weapon to beat our enemies. In any patient’s fight against the personal terror of cancer, we can do no less.” 

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Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.