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Cancer is a campaign issue
I am a 25-year cancer survivor, making cancer an election issue. Fighting cancer is as much a matter of public policy as it is of scientific discovery.
That is why I am participating in a Cancer Votes program to get candidates on the record to elevate cancer as a policy priority. Since Election Day is rapidly approaching, I’d like to know where the House candidates (Congressman Brad Schneider and Joe Severino) stand on these issues.
Every major medical breakthrough in cancer can be directly traced back to the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. Will you vote for sustainable annual increases in cancer research funding?
Clinical trials are key to advancing new standards of care that can improve survival and quality of life for people with cancer. Unfortunately, the cost to trial participants is often a barrier to their enrollment. Will you support legislation to ensure more patients have a chance to enroll in clinical trials?
Affordability is crucial for cancer patients and survivors. Due to the high cost of cancer care, patients need access to affordable plans. Will you support legislation to provide Americans access to affordable quality health care that will ensure access to health insurance for everyone in the Medicaid coverage gap and ensure greater affordability of Affordable Care Act marketplace plans?
Cancer is nonpartisan, and no matter who wins, I pledge to work with them to support laws and policies that help people fight cancer.
Maggie Powell, Waukegan, Cancer Votes volunteer
Political mailers a waste of time and money
It’s one thing — a good thing — to be able to block robocallers and solicitors on your cellphone. I do, and it’s wonderful. And I can turn the TV down or off when all the political ads come on.
But how do you block all the mailings that land in your mailbox every single day?
It’s disheartening to fill my recycling bin with all this junk. Certainly I’m not the only one. And imagine the poor postal workers who have to lug all that stuff around, delivering them to every mailbox. What a waste of time and money. Can the mailings, people. No one reads them anyway.
Jamie Ruggles, Barrington
