In his State of the Union address, President Obama designated Vice President Biden to lead the Administration\u2019s \u201cmoon shot\u201d to attack cancer.\u00a0 Cancer touches the lives of all of us and is the second leading cause of death in America.\u00a0 It is one term that covers a very wide range of diseases, including those of the lung, prostate, pancreas, breast and colon.<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s effort will hopefully make progress against that terrible disease.\u00a0 Here in New York, Governor Cuomo advanced his own, though more limited, effort.<\/p>\n
In his executive budget, the governor proposes to spend $91 million on a statewide campaign to boost the availability of breast and prostate cancer services.\u00a0 Breast cancer is the leading form of cancer affecting women.\u00a0 Prostate is a leading cancer in men.\u00a0 Yet, neither are the leading causes of cancer deaths<\/em>.\u00a0 That terrible distinction is the result of lung cancer.\u00a0 And the leading cause of lung cancer is tobacco use.<\/p>\n The state has the money to pay for programs to reduce smoking: it receives billions of dollars in revenues from the use of tobacco.\u00a0 It would make sense to expand the state\u2019s efforts \u2013 the state has a real health problem and the money to pay for an appropriate response.<\/p>\n Yet, the governor\u2019s executive budget adds no new revenues to the state\u2019s program designed to combat tobacco use.\u00a0 Indeed, the state has slashed funding for that program, which now receives less than 50 percent of the funding it received a few years ago, and less than 20 percent of the amount recommended by the national experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n In addition, there been budget proposals that not only put the state\u2019s tobacco control funding at risk, but other cancer services as well.<\/p>\n New York State offers a Cancer Services Program (CSP) which provides breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings and diagnostic services at no cost to women and men, typically those who lack health insurance.\u00a0 If the screening test finds something abnormal, diagnostic (testing) services are available for eligible women and men at no cost.<\/p>\n If breast, cervical or colorectal cancer is found, eligible women and men may be able to enroll in the special cancer treatment program\u00a0to receive full Medicaid health insurance coverage for the entire time they are being treated for cancer.<\/p>\n But that program has never been adequately funded, with experts stating that it only historically offered help to about 20 percent of the eligible population.\u00a0 Even with the expansion of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the CSP is still not adequately funded to meet the needs of the uninsured.\u00a0 In his executive budget, the governor proposes no new funding for this program.<\/p>\n The governor does, to his credit, propose $91 million to expand the state\u2019s breast and prostate services.\u00a0 And he proposes more money for Roswell Park Cancer Institute.\u00a0 Yet, his budget does not propose any new funding for the CSP.<\/p>\n Ironically, the experts will state that colon cancer screening is a much more scientifically useful cancer-fighting tool than other cancer screening.\u00a0 The national experts at the federal government\u2019s U.S. Preventive Services Task Force regularly issue guidelines documenting the best available science to direct medical practice.<\/p>\n In the case of cancer screenings, they rank the efficacy of the effort with a letter grade, an \u201cA\u201d being the service that provides the most benefits with the smallest risks.\u00a0 According to the USPSTF, colon cancer screening ranks an \u201cA,\u201d grades breast cancer screening with a \u201cB\u201d and prostate screening gets a \u201cD.\u201d\u00a0 That does not mean that breast cancer screenings are untrustworthy, it means that there is less benefit and greater risks with that type of screening compared to colon cancer screenings.<\/p>\n Yet, unless the governor and Legislature agree, there will be no additional resources for colon cancer screenings.\u00a0 And, unless they agree, no additional funding for anti-smoking programs, which are the best way to combat the biggest cancer killer.<\/p>\n Does this mean that lawmakers should reject the governor\u2019s cancer services program proposals?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 It does mean that other cancers, some of which are more dangerous and some of which are better candidates for screening, must get help as well.<\/p>\n New York should follow the lead of the President.\u00a0 The best way to tackle the scourge of cancer is to rely on the best scientific evidence and to take it on comprehensively.\u00a0 The governor\u2019s budget is only one step.\u00a0 Much more needs to be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his State of the Union address, President Obama designated Vice President Biden to lead the Administration\u2019s \u201cmoon shot\u201d to attack cancer.\u00a0 Cancer touches the lives of all of us and is the second leading cause of death in America.\u00a0 It is one term that covers a very wide range of diseases, including those of 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