Cancer Advocates Meet Residents of New Jersey’s 11^th Congressional District in Diners to Distribute Voter Guides with Candidate Positions on Cancer Issues

TRENTON, NJ – November 2, 2018 – Cancer patients and survivors have been visiting New Jersey diners in the 11^th Congressional District to distribute Voter Guides with the positions of the two candidates for the seat on laws and policies to fight cancer – a disease that continues to kill more than 1,600 people a day in this country. This effort is part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s (ACS CAN) national Cancer Votes campaign – the nation’s leading voter education program informing the public and candidates about the actions lawmakers should take to make fighting cancer a national priority. As part of Cancer Votes, ACS CAN staff and volunteers are attending events for both Mikie Sherrill and Jay Webber to ask them to make cancer a priority.

ACS CAN, the nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, received responses from both candidates with their positions on cancer research funding, ensuring access to affordable, quality health coverage and committing federal funding to eliminate death from cervical cancer worldwide.

“We have been going to these diners to help make sure that the people of the district know the responses of both candidates for this congressional seat to questions on these cancer related issues. Almost every one of us will be touched by cancer in our lifetime and it is critical that the residents clearly understand how, if elected, they would work to make cancer a national priority,” said ACS CAN Volunteer Mary Hess. “Lawmakers have the power to fund groundbreaking research and enact policies that help people prevent and fight cancer. I hope the candidates will commit to making cancer a national priority. The nearly 14 million cancer survivors and their families in this country will be counting on it.”

Specifically, ACS CAN asked candidates to answer the following questions:

• Cancer Research Funding: If elected, will you vote for annual increases in cancer research funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute?
• Access to Health Care: If elected, will you oppose any bills that allow insurers to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, reinstitute lifetime or annual caps, and/or weaken essential health benefits such as coverage for prescription drugs?
• Eliminating Death from Cervical Cancer: If elected, will you support public-private efforts to share what we’ve developed in the U.S. to eliminate worldwide death from cervical cancer by supporting U.S. investment in global health funding for cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment?

It is estimated that in 2018 in New Jersey, there will be nearly 53,000 people diagnosed with cancer and nearly 16,000 people will die from the disease. Nationwide, in 2018, more than 1.7 million people will be diagnosed with cancer and more than 600,000 will die from the disease.

Throughout the campaign season, volunteers across the country have been informing candidates and the public about cancer issues in an effort to make cancer a national priority.

ACS CAN is strictly non-partisan and does not endorse, oppose, or contribute to any candidate or political party. For more information or to view the candidates’ responses to the ACS CAN questionnaire, visit www.cancervotes.org.

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ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.