Cancer patients and their doctors should be fighting cancer, not insurance companies!
Unfortunately, insurers routinely deny access to proton therapy when a physician appropriately recommends it to treat tumors where traditional radiation won’t work or will damage healthy tissue and cause dangerous secondary health issues. The current broken insurance review and appeals processes is causing too many cancer patients to endure health risks, anxiety, and financial hardship because of unfair delays and inappropriate delays and denials of care.
That’s why cancer patients and family members are telling their stories and calling on state insurance commissioners to adopt principles of our Cancer Patients’ Timely Treatment Bill of Rights to hold insurers accountable for providing fair, timely and transparent access to cancer treatment.
We hope you will join our campaign. If we all raise our voices and share our stories, they will hear us!
Take Action Now!
Here are some things you can do today:
- Sign our petition urging insurance commissioners to adopt our bill of rights and hold insurers accountable – and share it with your friends, family members, and social networks so they can add their voices too!
- If you are on social media, be sure to follow the Alliance:
Facebook: Alliance for Proton Therapy Access
Twitter: @PTAccess4All
- Engage your social media networks! Here are some sample Facebook and Twitter posts (you can also adapt them for use in an online patient forms or private social media groups).
I am advocating with the Alliance for Proton Therapy Access to make sure all cancer patients seeking proton therapy receive fair and timely payment decisions from their health insurers! Join me in this fight by signing this petition: http://proton.wpengine.com/take-action/
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I needed to focus all my energy on fighting my disease, not my insurance company. That’s why I’ve joined the Alliance for Proton Therapy Access to advocate to fix broken insurance review and appeals processes for all cancer patients! Learn how you can get involved: CancerCareDenied.org
I am advocating with @PTAccess4All to make sure all cancer patients seeking proton therapy receive fair and timely payment decisions from their health insurers! Join me in this fight by signing this petition: http://proton.wpengine.com/take-action/
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I needed to focus all my energy on fighting my disease, not my insurer. That’s why I’ve joined with @PTAccess4All to advocate to fix broken insurance review and appeals processes for all cancer patients! Learn more: CancerCareDenied.org
- Post a photo on social media with the“Cancer Care Denied” handheld banner.
- Post on Twitter using the hashtag #CareDenied.
- Use one of our “Cancer Care Denied” Facebook profile picture frames.
- Share your story. If you or a family member benefitted from proton therapy or struggled to get coverage, and you would like to share your story on our website or in the media, please contact our advocacy director, Molly Daniels, mdaniels@allianceforprotontherapy.org.
Resources
These downloadable resources and talking points can be helpful if you have an opportunity to talk about the Alliance with organizations and networks you’re involved with:
- Alliance postcard and flyer
- Cancer Patients’ Timely Treatment Bill of Rights. You can download a PDF here or provide a link to the bill of rights on our website.
Talking Points
- The Alliance for Proton Therapy Access is a patient advocacy organization working to make sure all cancer patients seeking proton therapy receive appropriate, fair, and timely payment decisions from their health insurers.
- The current broken insurance review and appeals processes is causing too many cancer patients to endure health risks, anxiety, and financial hardship because of unfair delays and denials of care. [Add your personal story or motivation if you are comfortable doing that.]
- The Alliance is working directly with patient advocates to help them share their stories online and in the media to call attention to the benefits of proton therapy and insurers’ unfair delays and denials of treatment.
- The Alliance is launching a grassroots campaign, Cancer Care Denied, calling on state insurance commissioners to adopt principles of a Cancer Patients’ Timely Treatment Bill of Rights that hold insurers accountable for providing fair, timely, and transparent access to cancer treatment.
- If you are interested in getting involved with the Alliance, there are many ways you can support our advocacy campaign:
- Connect with Alliance staff, who can help you talk to the media about your cancer care experience or insurance denial
- Visit the website – CancerCareDenied.org – to sign a petition to insurance commissioners, and share your insurance denial or cancer care story
- Follow the Alliance on social media and share messages with your networks
- Encourage other advocates and organizations to get involved with the Alliance (Organizations can endorse the Cancer Patients Timely Treatment Bill of Rights and be listed on the Alliance website, and/or participate in media or via social media activities.)
Looking for more information, or have a great idea?
If you have ideas for connecting with other potential advocates, want to share your story with the media or know of other patient groups that would benefit from learning about the Alliance, please use our online form to share your story or ideas!