More than 50 cancer advocates – including patients, survivors, and caregivers – will travel to the Georgia State Capitol Building from around the state on Tuesday, Feb. 4 to have breakfast with lawmakers and ask them to support a Georgia PeachCare Plus plan to expand Medicaid.
Feb. 4 also happens to be World Cancer Day.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) said in a media statement that it is “excited to see a Georgia-specific solution to the health coverage crisis in the state.”
The visit to the capitol is part of the organization’s annual Cancer Action Day, an event that brings volunteer advocates together to call on lawmakers to pass policy making cancer a priority.
“Having access to health insurance is the top determinant of whether someone will survive cancer,” Fabienne Antoine-Nasser, government relations director for ACS CAN in Georgia, said in the statement. “More than 65,000 Georgians will get cancer this year. Giving more people access to cancer screenings and treatments will ultimately save lives.”
A breakfast will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. in Room 216. Speakers will include representatives from ACS CAN, lawmakers, cancer patients and those with experience living in the coverage gap.
A handful of Senate Republicans from rural Georgia have signed onto a new bipartisan attempt to fully expand Medicaid through a conservative-friendly option that gained traction last year after a decade of firm GOP resistance.
The bill would create PeachCare Plus, a program that would expand income eligibility and create an advisory commission that would help guide the development of the program.
