For 12 Million Living with Cancer, Change to Healthcare Status Quo is Essential

by Doug Ulman · 2010-01-22 05:03:00 UTC
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Doug Ulman, the President and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change.

You couldn't write fiction more dramatic than this. The outcome of one special statewide election throws the entire national health care reform effort into jeopardy.

By resetting the clock on the reform effort, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown's election throws many Americans' hopes for accessible, affordable care into jeopardy. The Senator has stated his opposition to the current bill, his point being that he comes from a state with the most generous health care system in the nation and that the current package would cost his constituents more for something they already have. I get that. But for the rest of America, it's a blow.

From the perspective of the cancer community, it's tragic to see an issue as fundamentally important to life as medical care become so politicized. In this day and age, none of us should suffer and die because we don't have the cash to see a doctor. Yet far too many of us do, particularly in minority and underserved communities. Cancer will become the leading cause of death worldwide in 2010. More than half a million Americans will lose their lives to the disease this year. And to the 12 million living with cancer, a change to the status quo is essential.

While the current legislation is probably doomed, Republicans would be foolhardy to ignore Americans' appetite for change. If there's one thing we've learned since this effort began last July, it's that voters all over the nation are sick and tired of the current conditions in our health care system. From discrimination by insurance companies against the millions of us with "pre-existing conditions" to lack of affordable care, we've had enough of things the way they are.

However Congress tackles health care reform -- whether in an omnibus bill or piece by piece -- the important thing is that they tackle it. Now.

Photo: Unhindered by Talent

Doug Ulman is a three-time cancer survivor and the President and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
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