Brownback Protests Cuts in Cancer Care

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) today made the following statement at a news conference with cancer society leaders, addressing the proposed cuts in cancer care in the Medicare reform bill.

"The cancer cuts we've been hearing about from the conference are neither politically smart, nor are they sound policy," Brownback said. "I know of fifty-three Senators who've said as much in a letter to the conferees.

"The cuts proposed in the Medicare conference will severely weaken the financial health of community cancer centers. Private health insurers are almost certain to reduce their reimbursement rates to coincide with reductions in Medicare reimbursement. This lethal combination of cuts will likely force banks and other financial institutions to reduce their opinion of the credit worthiness of cancer providers. Such a change would make it harder for providers to obtain the financing they require to buy the drugs and technologies their patients need.

"More expensive credit, combined with steep cuts in practice revenue, will cause providers who have financed the expansion of their office facility space to meet community demand - or providers who have placed facilities in underserved communities - to be unable to meet their monthly mortgage payments, and will likely force treatment centers to close.

"Weakening the health of our national network of community cancer centers will drastically impact access to care in vulnerable communities. Outreach clinics in rural communities will close. In Kansas alone, there are ten communities with fewer than twenty thousand people served by cancer centers. Cancer advocates in my state are telling me these centers won't likely survive the level of cuts we're hearing about from the Conference Committee.

"Cancer treatment centers in low-income and medically-underserved areas will likely also be among the first affected. The communities that are the least likely to reach out for help will have fewer places to go. Many community cancer practices across the U.S. have indicated they will be forced to turn seniors away. Fifty-three percent of physicians in a recent survey indicated they would limit the number of cancer patients they treat. And forty-one percent of community oncologists have indicated they will stop conducting clinical research in their office should these cuts go through. These cuts decimate the ability of community-based cancer centers to engage in clinical research.

"The proposed cuts to cancer care must be restored in the Conference Committee," Brownback said.