Priority #1
Framework for a Health Care System Guaranteeing 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 2008, 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.

Priority #2 --
$150 million for FY09 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.

Priority #3
Enactment of the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act (S.579/H.R.1157).
In May 2008, the House Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) held a hearing on the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act. Committee members made statements in support of the Senate HELP-passed version of the bill, with just one Member opposing both the HELP-passed version and the bill as introduced. NIH testified that it was "very satisfied" with the changes made by the HELP Committee. Despite the overwhelming bipartisan support for the HELP-passed version of the bill, and despite NIH satisfaction with it, the House E&C Committee marked up a substitute bill that no longer met the goals or intent of either the original bill, or the HELP-passed version. Following House passage of the E&C bill, the full Senate passed this version as well. The President signed it into law on October 8, 2008. The bill that was enacted into law did not include any of the elements of the bill NBCC developed and had been working for years to pass, and that two-thirds of Congress supported. While it may be a tool we can use in a small step toward reform, it ultimately misses an opportunity to create an innovative model at NIH that could potentially lead to the answers we so desperately need.

Priority #4
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.

LABCA works with NBCC to educate state and federal congressional members on the issues surrounding breast cancer and these priorities. This contact is extremely important when health bills are presented and need support at all phases of the legislative process. Congresswoman Jane Harman shows her support.

Learn More About Legislative Issues
Are you eager to learn more about Targeting Her-2, Nanotechnology, Nutrition, Exercise and Breast Cancer, Health Information Technology, IOM Report on Cancer Survivorship, Media on Breast Cancer, Access to Quality Care, Threats to the FDA, and more? Then Register today for the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund's Annual Advocacy Training Conference, May 2-5, 2009, in Washington, DC. More information >

To learn more about California state legislation, you can visit California Breast Cancer Organizations (CABCO).

To learn more about federal legislation, you can visit National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC).