Media

Press Releases

June 29, 2022

California Cancer Coalition Praises Assembly Health Committee’s Approval of SB 987, Urges Passage by Appropriations

Today, the California Assembly Health Committee voted to advance the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987). The Cancer Care Is Different coalition issued the following statement:  ”The Cancer Care Is Different Coalition thanks Chairman Jim Wood and members of the Assembly Health Committee for advancing the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987). Current […]

 
May 25, 2022

Cancer Care Is Different Coalition Applauds California Senate on Passage of Landmark Cancer Care Access Legislation

Senate passage of the California Cancer Care Equity Act a key step in expanding access to cancer care

 
May 19, 2022

California Cancer Coalition Praises Senate Appropriations Committee’s Approval of SB 987, Urges Passage before Full Senate

On May 19, the California Senate Appropriations Committee voted to advance the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987) to the Senate floor. The Cancer Care IS Different Coalition issued the following statement: “The Cancer Care Is Different Coalition thanks members of the California Senate Appropriations Committee for advancing the California Cancer Care Equity Act […]

 
April 21, 2022

California Cancer Coalition Praises Senate Health Committee’s Vote to Advance SB 987

On April 20, the California Senate Health Committee voted to pass the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987) from the committee. The Cancer Care is Different Coalition issued this statement: “The Cancer Care is Different Coalition thanks Senator Anthony Portantino and the members of the California Senate Health Committee for their support of the […]

 
April 5, 2022

Cancer Coalition Announces Support for California Bill to Eliminate Cancer Care Inequity

Cancer Care Is Different, which championed passage of California’s Cancer Patients Bill of Rights, enthusiastically endorses SB 987 to help address inequities in access to cancer care.  SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today, the Cancer Care Is Different Coalition announced its support for the California Cancer Care Equity Act (SB 987), which would remove unfair regulatory barriers […]

 
August 19, 2021

Leading Cancer Coalition Praises Passage of First-in-the-Nation California Cancer Patients Bill of Rights

California Legislature passes Cancer Patients Bill of Rights establishing six rights for cancer patients to ensure access to the care they need Join Cancer Care is Different for a virtual event Friday, August 20, at 9:30 AM PT with remarks from Sen. Susan Rubio (D-District 22), Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-District 64), City of Hope CEO […]

 

In the News

June 28, 2022

Column: Cancer patients need options to survive. Poor Californians often have none

My husband was diagnosed with cancer when I was eight months pregnant.

 
June 1, 2022

President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Goals Will Hinge on Cancer Care Equity

President Joe Biden gave a much-needed boost of hope to all those impacted by cancer by reigniting the Cancer Moonshot program and renewing the national effort to “end cancer as we know it.”

 
April 29, 2022

California Bill Aims to Give Medi-Cal Patients With Complex Cancers Access to Cutting-Edge Care

NEW YORK – The California Senate Health Committee voted last week to advance a bill addressing disparities in access to cancer care for patients covered by California’s Medicaid healthcare program, Medi-Cal.

 
April 17, 2022

City of Hope’s Alvarnas: Payers Must Recognize Cancer Care Is Different

Patients with cancer should have the same access to precision medicine, clinical trials, and comprehensive cancer care no matter what type of insurance they have, and it should be easier for patients and their families to get needed treatments, according to a hematologist/oncologist and policy leader for City of Hope National Medical Center.

 
February 16, 2022

Breaking down barriers to access cancer care equity

Cancer patients in California should have easy access to high-quality care and innovative cures without needless barriers.

 
December 23, 2021

We’re Delivering ‘Moonshot’ Cancer Care Innovations. It’s Time for a Moonshot to Give Patients Access to Them

Fifty years ago this month, the National Cancer Act was signed into law, helping pave the way to an era in which science has delivered innovations in cancer care that would have seemed like science fiction in 1971. We have treatments for more types of cancer, with better survival rates and fewer side effects, than ever before.

 
September 27, 2021

Cancer Without Chemotherapy: ‘A Totally Different World’

A growing number of cancer patients, especially those with breast and lung cancers, are being spared the dreaded treatment in favor of other options.

 
September 3, 2021

The Cancer Patients’ Bill of Rights: Helping cancer care find its way again

Incredible advances in cancer care are of no benefit to cancer patients if they can’t access them. Sadly, for too many cancer patients, our current system places barriers in their path to accessing the optimal clinical care for their diagnosis.

 
August 27, 2021

California set to adopt first-in-the-nation “Cancer Patients’ Bill of Rights”

According to Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope, 55% of cancer patients in California don’t receive care consistent with clinical guidelines from national comprehensive cancer networks.

 
March 9, 2021

Dr. Jandial: The cancer patient bill of rights

This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on March 9, 2021.

 
February 19, 2021

City of Hope leads Cancer Patients Bill of Rights resolution, aimed at expanding access to unleash the full benefits of cancer care innovation

A profound, difficult, seemingly impossible human journey begins with the words, “you have cancer.”

 
May 31, 2020

Less Than 50% of Patients With Cancer Received NCCN-Concordant Care in California From 2004 to 2016

Results of a retrospective analysis released during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program suggested that prescribing cancer medications in accordance with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines appeared to confer better disease-specific survival for patients across 8 different malignancies found in the California Cancer Registry during 2004 to 2016.

 
December 8, 2019

A clinical trial saved my life. So why aren’t more cancer patients enrolling?

 
August 2, 2019

Cancer patients are being denied drugs, even with doctor prescriptions and good insurance

 
July 16, 2019

By Targeting Each Patient’s Unique Tumor, Precision Medicine Is Crushing Once-Untreatable Cancers. But Only a Fraction of Patients Currently Benefit. Can Medicine Close the Gap?

 
December 6, 2016

Medicaid cancer patients receive subpar care

 
November 19, 2015

Medi-Cal cancer patients don’t fare much better than the uninsured, UC Davis study says

 
November 16, 2015

Medi-Cal patients with cancer fare worse than those with other coverage

 
November 6, 2015

Cancer Patients on Medi-Cal Do Worse Than Those with Other Insurance

 
June 4, 2014

Medicaid Patients Get Worse Cancer Care: Studies