From the Desk of Marc Hymovitz @ ACS CAN

First - Dr. Gordy Klatt, the founder of Relay For Life, announced he is suffering from stomach cancer.  If nothing else, we owe it to Dr. Klatt to make 2012 the best Relay season ever!

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Last week, I received the May 2012 Massachusetts Government Relations & Advocacy Newsletter from Marc Hymovitz:

Dear Advocate,

Massachusetts Government Relations & Advocacy Newsletter

May 2012

As the calender turns to June, I wanted to provide an update of what has been a very busy spring at the Massachusetts state house.  Several important bills are moving through the legislature with many of them having the potential to have a big impact on our efforts to reduce the incidence, suffering and death from cancer.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

• Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention program (MTCP) - The House adopted an amendment which provides a modest $150,000 increase in funding for MTCP which funds programs to prevent kids from starting smoking and help smokers quit.  The Senate budget would level fund the program at $4.15 million.  The program has been cut by 90% over the past decade but adoption of the House increase would be the first increase for the program in several years.
• Health Promotion/Disease Prevention - Both the House and Senate originally proposed a cut for this line item which funds care coordination programs as well as important cancer education, awareness and screening initiatives for low-income individuals.  After ACS supported amendments were adopted, both budgets now level fund the line items at $3.4 million ensuring continued federal and private matching funds of up to $8 million.
• Expansion of smoking cessation benefits - The Senate adopted an ACS supported amendment filed by Senators Richard Moore and Anthony Petruccelli which would provide a comprehensive, smoking cessation benefit for individuals insured under plans offered by the Group Insurance Commission (state employees and retirees) and Commonwealth Care (subsidized plans through MA health care reform).  The benefit, which is already offered in MassHealth (Medicaid) plans, has shown a huge return on investment there saving the Commonwealth over $14 million and reducing smoking rates by 25% in just the first two years.  Senator Moore has also filed the legislation separately this session which he has been championing through the legislative process.
• Minimum pricing - Attempts to repeal minimum pricing laws on cigarettes were defeated during the House budget debate.  These important laws help keep a pricing floor on cigarettes, ensuring higher prices which is one of the most effective ways to get people to quit smoking and discourage others from starting.
• Health Care Reform funding - Both the House and Senate budgets fully fund the continuation of Massachusetts health care reform.
• Health care disparities - Both the House and Senate include language for the creation of an Office of Health Equity to coordinate the efforts across the Commonwealth to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.

FISCAL YEAR 2013 STATE BUDGET:
Last month, the House of Representatives passed their version of the FY'13 state budget with the Senate concluding debate on theirs today.  A conference committee made up of three Representatives and three Senators will now work to negotiate the differences between the two bills so a budget is in place when the new fiscal year begins on July 1st.  Here are how our priorities stand:

RESEARCH MATCHING GRANT FUND:
The House this week passed a "job creation" bill aimed at providing additional economic growth in Massachusetts.  Why, you ask, is this important to the American Cancer Society?  Because one of our top priorities is to increase funding for scientific research so we successfully lobbied to have included in the bill the creation of a $50 million research grant matching fund.  Scientific research is a huge part of the Massachusetts economy.  In fact, last year the Commonwealth received over $2 billion in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) helping support 34,000 jobs.  The matching fund would create a matching grant fund which would be available to researchers to leverage additional dollars for their work.  Grants eligible to be matched include, but are not limited to those from the federal government as well as the American Cancer Society which was specifically mentioned by one Representative on the House floor during debate.  The bill now moves to the Senate for their approval.

NEXT MASSACHUSETTS ADVOCACY COMMITTEE MEETING:
June 14, 2012, 6:00-7:30 PM
American Cancer Society
30 Speen St, Framingham
If you are unable to attend in person, please contact Patricia Mallios at 508-270-4683 or patricia.mallios@cancer.org to obtain call-in information.
Click here to read a recap from the last meeting and the agenda for June 14th.

For further information or to find out how you can help, please contact:

Marc Hymovitz at mailto:hilary.schneider@cancer.orgor 508.270.4945

Source

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