Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition Fund
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Legislative Advocacy

We have the power, we have the plan, we have the passion.  Through advocacy for focused funding of quality research,  access to quality health care for all and advancement of an agenda to protect the rights of survivors, we can end this disease in our lifetime.

 

"It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want. "
Franklin D. Roosevelt

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.

 

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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 Priorities

LEGISLATIVE 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.  
 
 

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