Susan G. Komen® Urges Breast Cancer Advocates to Oppose MacArthur Amendment to American Health Care Act

Amendment Would “Seriously Erode Patient Protections Vital to the
Breast Cancer Community”

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The nation’s largest breast cancer organization is urging breast cancer
patients, survivors and advocates to ask their congressional
representatives to oppose an amendment that would seriously erode
patient protections vital to the breast cancer community and add
significant economic burdens on women and men already facing a fight for
their lives.

“We are urging anyone who has been affected by breast cancer, either
directly or in support of their friends and their loved ones, to call
their congressional representatives – today – and ask them to vote
against the MacArthur Amendment to the proposed American Health Care Act
(AHCA),” said Komen interim president and CEO Ellen Willmott. “This
amendment and the AHCA itself create significant economic burdens and
uncertainty for people who are already suffering enough from a breast
cancer diagnosis.”

The MacArthur Amendment, introduced this week, enables states to opt out
of current federal pre-existing condition requirements, and instead
allows insurers to charge these patients significantly higher premiums
if they experience a temporary gap in coverage. It also allows states to
eliminate federal guarantees of essential health services, such as
breast cancer screenings.

“Komen and our advocates have worked for years to ensure that all people
facing breast cancer can receive timely, quality care, covered by
insurance. This amendment would create a perverse incentive for states
to race to the bottom in an effort to lower their costs and premiums for
the healthy, while leaving the most economically and medically
vulnerable behind. On behalf of the women and men we serve who are
fighting to survive, we will do everything in our power to prevent
that,” Willmott said.

Komen’s Advocacy Team issued these guidelines for supporters:

• Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121, provide your
  address and ask to be connected with your Representative’s office.
  Once you reach a staff person or voicemail system:
  • Request that the Representative vote AGAINST the MacArthur
    Amendment
  • Convey that these changes would increase the number of uninsured,
    decrease federal protections for people with pre-existing
    conditions and cut Medicaid
  • Tell the office that as a constituent and breast cancer
    survivor/activist, these provisions are important for the women
    and men Komen serves in your state.

  About Susan G. Komen®

  Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest breast cancer organization,
  funding more breast cancer research than any other nonprofit outside of
  the federal government while providing real-time help to those facing
  the disease. Komen has set a Bold Goal to reduce the current number of
  breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in the U.S. by 2026. Since its
  founding in 1982, Komen has funded more than $920 million in research
  and provided more than $2 billion in funding to screening, education,
  treatment and psychosocial support programs serving millions of people
  in more than 30 countries worldwide. Komen was founded by Nancy G.
  Brinker, who promised her sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would end the
  disease that claimed Suzy’s life. That promise has become Komen’s
  promise to all people facing breast cancer. Visit komen.org
  or call 1-877 GO KOMEN. Connect with us on social at ww5.komen.org/social.

  Contacts

  Susan G. Komen®
  Andrea Rader, 972-855-4382
  press@komen.org