Cancer: Starting Point For Health Care Reform?

Cancer will afflict one of three women and one in two men in their lifetimes in the United States.

It is the one disease that seems to strike fear in the hearts and minds of all people, lurking like the thief in the night, waiting to rob people of their strength, their vitality and their accumulated riches. Unlike other major chronic diseases, it can attack different parts of the body, and then spread to consume the entire body.

I recently was elected as co-chair of the Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Care Coalition. After 15 years of talking with communities in Tennessee and Virginia, I understand the importance of this new position and the responsibility it brings to help people express their concern about cancer to the public.

Each year in Tennessee, an average of 23,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed, and more than 12,000 Tennesseans will die of cancer. Like the rest of the country, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers are the biggest killers, and lung cancer is a bigger problem in Tennessee. Cancer is almost an equal opportunity disease – it attacks young and old, rich and poor, white and black. Unfortunately, more data is being found to indicate that the rate of cancer deaths for adults under age 65 is higher in the Appalachian region.

Knowing that we have a problem and doing something about it is the real issue.

As it stands, we are hearing the drums of health care reform beating again for the first time in more than a decade. Almost one in five people in the country have no insurance. We are being told that Baby Boomers will bankrupt Medicare. Businesses can’t keep up with rising health insurance costs. State governments are trying to make ends meet in Medicaid programs without raising taxes or cutting other services. Health insurance companies are trying to stabilize premium costs while making Americans more accountable for our actions through proper and timely use of health care.

There is a clear message – something must be done, and the next president and Congress will have a mandate to address the issues. But instead of trying the seemingly impossible, fixing the whole health care system, perhaps we could focus on addressing one piece – cancer.

Cancer provides a framework for discussion of many important reform issues. How can we, as a nation, help people learn more about the disease, its risk factors and how to prevent it? Should early education through the schools be introduced? What cancer prevention, screening and treatment services ought to be covered in all health insurance plans so that American families are not bankrupted by paying for cancer care?

What programs should be put in place to make screening, diagnosis and treatment more available and financially accessible for everyone? Do we need any more laws like those enacted to prevent smoking indoors to reduce exposure to cancer-causing agents? How should individuals be made more responsible for their own behaviors that are known to be related to cancer?

The Tennessee Comprehensive Cancer Care Coalition has produced the new Tennessee Cancer Plan, 2009-2012. Communities and cancer advocates can invite candidates for elected office to discuss the plan.
We can identify the desired role that local, state and national governments can play in a war against cancer. Participating in such discussions may indeed help us all to see our personal issues with cancer and to understand what we can do for ourselves, our families and communities to reduce the misery from this killer.

For more information, discussion and opportunities to make a difference, contact the East Region Comprehensive Cancer Coalition – Linda Cruze, RN, BSN, at (865) 305-8048 or by e-mail at .

Bruce Behringer, of Johnson City, is the assistant vice president at East Tennessee State University for rural and community health. He may be reached at (423) 439-7809 or .