Something both sides agree on: A bill to prevent late-stage cancer

One million Medicare beneficiaries will be diagnosed with cancer this year.

600,000 people in the U.S. will die of cancer this year.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, affecting millions of families each year. Evidence consistently shows that early detection significantly improves treatment outcomes, reduces costs and saves lives. Investing in early detection is a critical and cost-effective public health strategy.

Despite this, our healthcare system is still struggling to keep up.

Many Americans, especially those living on fixed incomes, in rural communities or facing already limited access to healthcare, are being diagnosed at later stages of cancer, when outcomes are poorer and treatment much more expensive. 

And for too many, the diagnosis arrives not just as a health crisis, but as a financial one. I have worked with too many families who find themselves facing impossible choices — buy groceries for the week or cover their cancer treatments.

Against this backdrop, Congress has a rare and urgent opportunity to act.

Last year, members of the House Committee on Ways and Means shared deeply personal stories of how cancer has touched their lives as they reviewed and unanimously supported the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act. 

So, it should come as no surprise that the act is the first and only health care bill to garner majority support in both the House and Senate. That level of bipartisan consensus is almost unheard of. But the job isn’t finished until this bill becomes law.

My organization, the Cancer Support Community, and other nonprofits have seen where the system fails patients. Rural communities, in particular, face significant disparities in access to timely screening and care. 

Our data shows that longer travel times to treatment often result in later-stage diagnoses and lower quality of life. Catching cancer early can prevent this, offering patients the opportunity to receive less aggressive (and less expensive) treatment, and most importantly, more time with loved ones.

Yet many cancers still lack reliable screening tools. Expanding investment in early detection is not only a medical imperative, it’s an economic one. 

The earlier cancer is found, the less it costs to treat and the better the chances of survival. One estimate suggests that the preventative cancer screenings we do have saved the U.S. a cumulative $6.5 trillion over the last 25 years.

The Nancy Gardner Sewell Act would modernize Medicare to allow for coverage of cutting-edge screening technologies that can detect dozens of cancers through a simple blood test.

This policy would mark a turning point in the fight against cancer, particularly for older adults who face the highest risk and are often diagnosed in later stages.

The support is overwhelming. More than 550 organizations representing cancer patients, providers, researchers and advocates have urged lawmakers to seize this moment. Congress has already thoroughly vetted this bill and cleared it for passage. 

When lawmakers return from their summer break, there will be no better time to get this bill over the finish line.

Everything is ready to go. The support is there. Now is the time for passage.

Daneen Sekoni is the vice president of Policy and Advocacy at the Cancer Support Community.