American Cancer Society report shows New Mexico needs more health funding

Kansas is in the bottom half of the class in a new report from the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. Jen Schulte, the organization’s director of government relations, says each state gets either a red mark for falling short, a yellow mark for making some progress or a green mark for doing well. Iowa increased its rate in 2007 to $1.36 per pack, but now the rate is less than that of all its neighbors, except Nebraska.

On this year’s report, only three states met six out of the nine benchmarks that were measured and no state met seven or more. The report also looks at whether or not a state has said yes to federal funds available to increase access to care through its Medicaid program, has passed policies proven to increase patient quality of life and offers a well-balanced approach to pain medications.

According to the group’s new report, “How Do You Measure Up?: A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality, ” Colorado still has some work to do, including upping its efforts in Medicaid funding for tobacco cessation programs, restricting indoor tanning devices, and increasing access to palliative health care”.

Where the state is making progress, but could be better, is cigarette tax rates. And, during a hard budget cycle, lawmakers protected flat funding for the tobacco prevention program. “When you’re investing in prevention, you are ultimately reducing your expenditures on Medicaid”.

Eleven states, including Nevada, plus Washington, D.C., have laws prohibiting indoor tanning for anyone younger than 18. She says using a tanning bed before the age of 35 raises a person’s melanoma risk by 59 percent. “In Florida alone in 2015, 114,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer and 43,000 will die from it. We can’t wait to take action when the stakes are that high”.

The report may not have a direct bearing on efforts to win National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer cetner designation for the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

David Sutton, senior manager of media affairs for Altria, a major tobacco giant, said a state ban on e-cigarettes in public places is premature. Other states have extended those workplace protections statewide to all public spaces, including hotels and gambling facilities, which aren’t covered in California’s law.

Passing and implementing the policy recommendations in the report would not only save lives in New York State, but also save millions in long-term health care costs and in some cases would even generate additional, much-needed revenue.