In the face of mounting pressure to pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit, 53 Senators have gone on record as against cutting Medicare reimbursement for cancer care as a means for funding the bill, including Washington Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. A formal letter containing the Senators' signatures was delivered last week to each Congressional Conference Member charged with the difficult job of reconciling the House and Senate versions of the drug bill.

A recent national query also revealed that an overwhelming majority of Americans are unaware that the prescription drug bill before Congress contains multi-billion dollar cuts for cancer treatment, and once told, 78 percent expect President Bush to demand the cuts be removed before signing such legislation. Three out of five (60 percent) voters even said they prefer that Congress pass no drug benefit bill at all rather than one containing cuts to cancer treatment, according to a questions by two leading national cancer organizations.

"An overwhelming margin of voters prefer that the cancer care cuts be removed from the Medicare prescription drug bill," said pollster Kellyanne Conway, president and CEO of The Polling Company, who along with polling firm, StrategyOne, jointly conducted the poll for the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

"The message here is crystal clear - do not pass prescription drug legislation that includes a reduction in Medicare funding for cancer therapies," said Dr. Richard McGee, medical oncologist, past president of ASCO and president of Puget Sound Cancer Centers in Edmonds and North Seattle. "This poll shows that Americans recognize a cut in funding for Medicare cancer patients is an unprecedented cut for all cancer patients. One will affect the other."

Key findings include:

• 77 percent of those surveyed say they feel "angry and frustrated with Congress" for including such cuts in the legislation.
• Nearly eight out of ten (78 percent) respondents say Congress should remove the cancer cut provision before legislation is passed.
• 78 percent say that if Congress sends legislation containing the cancer treatment cuts to the White House, President Bush should call on Congress to produce a new plan without the cancer cuts.

"The vast majority of folks don't even know that cancer care cuts are in the Medicare bill . . . and once they know it, they think it's a bad bill, and they're right," explained long time cancer care champion U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga). More than 200 Members of Congress have also signed letters calling for the Conference Committee to give balanced reform to Medicare reimbursements so that access to community-based cancer care will be preserved instead of cut. Washington Congress Members Jay Inslee, Norm Dicks, Brian Baird, Rick Larsen and George Nethercutt have signed these letters. Congress Members Adam Smith, Jim McDermott and Jennifer Dunn have not.

Both versions of the drug benefit bills, now in a House-Senate conference committee, call for reductions of up to $16 billion in Medicare funding for chemotherapy drugs and other cancer treatments over 10 years. National oncology organizations have long argued that these cuts will force closures of community cancer centers across the country, causing restrictions and delays in treatment and seriously jeopardizing access to care as well as to research and clinical trial enrollment.

"Those in support of such cuts think they are saving billions of dollars in order to fund the prescription drug bill, when instead, they'll end up losing money because cancer treatment in hospitals is more expensive. They want to bankrupt the backbone of a cancer care system that works for one that doesn't," said Dr. Jeffery Ward, medical oncologist for Puget Sound Cancer Centers.

Oncologists have fought for balanced reimbursements for chemotherapy drugs and the practice services and equipment necessary to administer the drugs in an outpatient setting. The proposed reimbursement cuts come out of overpayment for drugs without equalizing the payments for the services and equipment now grossly under-reimbursed, resulting in a net cut of more than 30 percent. More than 80 percent of all cancer patients receive treatment in community cancer centers across the country which have also proven to be the most convenient, accessible and cost effective delivery of cancer care today.