Washington, DC ---- Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a senior member of the Florida Congressional Delegation, is pleased to have cosponsored a legislative project that will facilitate cancer detection and expand treatment options. The “Cancer Screening, Treatment, and Survivorship Act,” H.R. 2353 will take significant action against the prevalence of cancer in the United States by expanding the access to cancer detection methods and treatment services.  The legislation currently has 100 co-sponsors.

Based on recommendations from the U.S. Preventative Task Force and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, this bill will authorize state-based grants to establish new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-administered cancer screening programs for early detection and screening methods in order to curtail our nation’s ever alarming cancer rates. 

This bill will also furnish states with the option to provide medical services and treatment to anyone under the age of 65 who is screened through these programs, found to have cancer, and who is not otherwise insured or eligible for Medicaid. To help ensure their long-term health outcomes, states shall also be given the option of covering survivorship services through Medicaid, including a yearly exam by an oncologist.

Furthermore, this bill will also authorize research through the National Cancer Institute to development new and/or more effective screenings and to establish new standards of care for survivors.

Said Ros-Lehtinen, “Cancer is striking an alarmingly high rate of persons throughout our country and this legislation will help us better detect this cruel disease and thus provide the afflicted with a chance at recovery and a normal life. I come across so many brave individuals who are battling this disease and they all tell me that catching it on time made all the difference. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and help us battle this affliction.”

###

Home | Press Releases