Overview of Advocacy Accomplishments
Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition Fund is a grassroots advocacy group and member the National Breast Cancer
Coalition, one of the most influential health care advocacy groups in Washington DC.
With over 500
active members of our grassroots advocacy network in northern Ohio, we contact our legislators and ask them to support a substantive
legislative agenda.
Our accomplishments include:
- Over $2 billion in federal funding
for breast cancer research through the DoD Breast Cancer Research Program. To date, over $70 million
in BCRP funding has been granted to Ohio institutions for interdisciplinary, groundbreaking, high risk, innovative research
as well as professional development for those who wish to pursue careers in breast cancer research.
- Passage in 2000
of the Breast & Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, providing Medicaid coverage for uninsured women diagnosed
with breast or cervical cancer. In 2001, NOBCCF, working with other breast cancer advocacy groups across the
state, led the effort to bring the BCCP Treatment Program to Ohio.
- Enactment of laws to protect medical privacy of patients, cover the cost of patient care during clinical
trials for Medicare patients, and enactment of a program to provide Medicare coverage of oral anti-cancer therapies.
- Advocacy
for developing and full funding of the Breast Cancer & Environmental Research Program at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences
Disclaimer: NOBCCF does not receive
funding from any government entity and does not receive any funding from the government programs on whose behalf we advocate
and support. We carefully evaluate and choose to support our advocacy initiatives because they're quality,
systemic approaches to make a strong impact in the effort to eradicate breast cancer and help those at risk for and living
with the disease.
National Breast Cancer Coalition Annual Advocacy Training Conference
Washington DC
May
2 - 5, 2009
Click here to learn more about the Conference and apply for a scholarship to attend with other breast cancer advocates from northern
Ohio.
Click here to view details from NBCC's 2008 Advocacy Conference
What Is Our National Legislative Agenda?
NOBCCF members advocate for a legislative agenda
in Congress established each year by the
National Breast Cancer Coalition.
More about NBCC PrioritiesLEGISLATIVE Priority #1
Guaranteed access to quality health care for all.
We will not achieve our mission of eradicating breast cancer until everyone has guaranteed access to quality health care.
NBCC’s Board of Directors adopted a
Framework for a Health Care System Guaranteeing Access to Quality Health Care for All in 2007, after extensive analysis and deliberation. This Framework builds on NBCC’s longstanding principles and
core values for quality health care. NBCC will use this framework to educate and mobilize grassroots advocates to demand
political leadership and action towards comprehensive health care reform.
LEGISLATIVE Priority #2
$150 million for FY10 for the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. As a result of
NBCC’s advocacy and strong bipartisan leadership on Capitol Hill, more than $2 billion has been invested in this competitive
peer-reviewed research Program. This innovative Program has changed the world of breast cancer research. The inclusion
of consumers in every aspect of decision-making and the Program’s unique grant opportunities have led to groundbreaking
scientific advances.
PUBLIC POLICY PRIORITIES
Breast
Cancer and Environmental Research Act. The strategies outlined in the NBCC supported Breast Cancer and Environmental
Research Act (BCERA) would result in an overarching plan to look at the links between the environment and breast cancer and
a new model of resource allocation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NBCC is looking at various strategies
to achieve the intent of BCERA.
Quality Breast Cancer Care. While we advocate for guaranteed
access through a framework for a system governing coverage for health care, we must also push for quality care. One
step toward quality is determining how to measure whether the public is getting the right care for breast cancer. NBCC is
working on quality measures that will become the basis of our campaign for regulatory and legislative reform in this area.
Preservation of the Medicaid Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program (BCCTP).
While NBCC pursues its work on guaranteeing access to quality health care for all, we are committed to making sure women with
breast cancer have access to the care they need. The BCCTP provides enhanced matching funds to states to provide full Medicaid
coverage to low-income, uninsured women screened and diagnosed with breast and/or cervical cancer through a federal program.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have opted into the program, but efforts to reduce funding for Medicaid or dramatically
alter the program threaten the future of the BCCTP. NBCC will work to protect and preserve the BCCTP.
Transparency and Accountability at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI).
NBCC strongly believes that the enterprise of clinical and scientific research at NIH could be vastly improved with greater
participation from educated health care consumers and trained advocates who can help to inform all aspects of decision making
at NCI and across the Institutes. NBCC also has deep concerns about the lack of transparency, external oversight and
accountability in research priority-setting, decision-making and evaluation. What is needed is to determine the right
process for and atmosphere within which biomedical research will be prioritized and conducted. We must make certain
that the process is inclusive and maximizes our ability to get the right research done in the right way
Click here to download a copy of NBCC's 2009 Priorities
What Is Your Congressperson's Record on Breast Cancer Legislative Priorities?
Each
year when NBCC introduces its Legislative Priorities, Ohio grassroots advocates contact their representatives in Congress
and ask them to sign "Dear Colleague" letters, co-sponsor bills, give speeches and attend hearings.
Click Here to Find Your Ohio Congressperson's Voting Record
State Advocacy
Ohio Breast Cancer Advocacy Priorities
How Can You Get Involved?
We provide ongoing training and resources to help survivors become familiar with legislative advocacy.
In additon, National Breast Cancer Coalition provides training at its Annual Advocacy Training Conference in Washington,
DC. Scholarships are available from NOBCCF and NBCCF to cover the cost of attending the conference.
Join Our Legislative Alert Email List
We'll send you emails when its time to contact your representatives and encourage them to take action on our legislative
priorities. All it takes is a simple phone call or fax.
