Senate Set for Saturday Vote on Health Reform

By Catherine Knowles, C3’s Director of Policy

On Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Reid (NV) set the procedural wheels in motion for a vote on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The first procedural vote is expected around 8pm on Saturday.  It will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed.  Majority Leader Reid is working to line up the 60 votes needed to pass the cloture motion (a cloture motion must be approved by three-fifths of the Senate).

Continue reading for more information on the upcoming Senate vote as well as a summary of some of the provisions included in the Senate bill that C3 thinks are important for people living with colorectal cancer. Continue reading…

Posted by Catherine Knowles on November 20th, 2009
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News | No Comments »
Tags: Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Senate

Health Reform Progress Report

Catherine Knowles is C3′s new Director of Policy

The health care reform debate continues.  Last week, the Senate Finance Committee discussed Senator Baucus’s proposal and considered hundreds of amendments.  The Committee will hold a final vote on the proposed bill later this week.  This will allow the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) time to complete its analysis of the bill and provide a final cost estimate.  After the Finance Committee has approved the bill, it will be combined with the bill from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee before it is scheduled for a vote on the floor by the full Senate.

C3 has been closely following the various health reform proposals introduced in Congress, because access to care is critical to preventing, treating and beating colorectal cancer.  Please feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving comments below.

Continue reading for more information on some of the amendments adopted by the Senate Finance Committee that C3 thinks are important for people living with colorectal cancer.

Continue reading…

Posted by Catherine Knowles on October 6th, 2009
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News | 2 Comments »
Tags: comparative effectiveness research, Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Medicare

Lack of Insurance Impacts Survival in CRC Patients Under 65.

Not having insurance reduces the chance that someone with colorectal cancer will live a year after their diagnosis.  Even when patients from 18 to 64 have other illnesses, their insurance status makes a difference in survival.

Risk of dying during that first year was 50 to 90 percent higher among the uninsured.  They were more likely to diagnosed at an advanced stage and live in poor neighborhoods.

Other illness (comorbidities) was lowest in privately insured patients and highest in patients under 65 on Medicare, who were likely to have Medicare because of a disability. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on August 1st, 2009
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »
Tags: disparities, Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, survival

Less Than a Third of Medicaid Patients Are Screened for Colorectal Cancer

When researchers reviewed medical records for Medicaid-insured people over 50, they found that only about half had colorectal cancer screening recommended to them by their doctors.  But only 28 percent actually received screening.

Having an on-going relationship with a doctor (medical home) made a difference.  People who had been seeing their primary care doctor for more than five years were two and a half times more likely to have been screened. Continue reading…

Posted by Kate Murphy on October 14th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | No Comments »
Tags: Medicaid, screening