The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, n.d.). Founded in 1949 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada(Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, n.d.). The LLS mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, n.d.). Every 4 minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer; and every 10 minutes, someone dies of a blood cancer (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, n.d.). In 2013, over 3,000 Missourians were diagnosed with a blood cancer. The LLS currently has nearly $4 million dollars invested in Missouri to find cancer cures(Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, n.d.).
Meg Boyko is the patient access, education and advocacy manager in the St. Louis Gateway Chapter Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the mentor of the Field Experience Project for this paper. She spends countless hours educating patients, families, communities, and political leaders about blood cancers promoting parity for oral and intravenous chemotherapy treatments. She is a strong advocate who has a way of drawing people in and encouraging them to participate in the LLS mission to cure blood cancers, aid in improving the quality of life of patients and their families. She pulls out the strengths of each advocate, and utilizes them to benefit the needs of those suffering with a blood cancer. The advocates work well together and feel ...
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...l cancer medications. It is estimated that as many as ten percent of cancer patients do not fill oral prescriptions and, thus, do not receive their recommended cancer treatment due to high out-of-pocket costs. A 2009 study found that patients with an out-of-pocket cost of greater than $200 per prescription were at least three times less likely to fill their prescription for their oral anti-cancer drugs, compared to patients with out-of-pocket costs of $100 or less. Abandoning one’s medication may lead to costly follow-up visits or hospitalization, among other issues. Equitable access to oral drugs can help prevent this outcome. Lower out-of-pocket costs for patients mean they are more likely to adhere to their anticancer regimen as several studies have shown that the higher the cost-sharing amounts, the less likely patients are to follow through on their treatment.
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
Third is performing reckonable accident errors that have been impaired on patients whereas the amount also was listed at $1.7 Million from 2008.Fourth the U.S. reckless spends about 100-200 billion a year in curing uninsured patients. Fifth, the most commonly talked about drug of all is tobacco, which amounts to about 96 billion. Healthcare not only does give patients the importance of everything but we also have technology along with so many life-enhancing benefits is ridiculously high and is way over the line. Which is why so many of our medical learners are not being trained enough to understand the importance of procuring and delivering prescription drugs that have cost about 1.3 billion dollars. The Question we should ask ourselves this how is it going to look when those are in need of a serious medical issue of having what’s required of them to take in order to ease their pain.
While many low-income families obtain prescription coverage through government programs and may receive relatively generous drug benefits, those who have no prescription coverage are required to pay the full retail price charged at their pharmacies. Because the cash-paying customers are
Has anyone noticed that there seems to be a drugstore being built on every corner these days? Revco, Walgreens, and Rite Aid seem to be just a few of the drug store chains that are expanding. One has to wonder if this has anything to do with the possibility of including medicine under coverage by healthcare systems. This means that they may become part of a capitated payment system to the pharmaceutical providers. "By capitation, we mean a prospective payment to physicians or providers - either individually or as a group - of a fixed amount of money to care for each patient (Pearson, 1998)." In other words, every physician is provided a set sum of money whether they see any patients or not and every pharmacy would be given money whether they prescribe any drugs or not. Drug costs will rise.
The public health issue the organization is working to address is to find a cure for blood cancer. At an estimated amount close to 1,012,533 people in the United States are have been diagnosed with leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma. A majority of the diagnosed are living with or are in remission. According to LLS, every four minutes someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer and approximately every 10 minutes dies from blood cancer.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. The Affordable Care Act was established to help eliminate the disparities found in those who are diagnosed with cancer. Although the ACA was set into action about a year ago, its ultimate goal is to improve the health of millions of Americans. However, enrolling millions of American into the right insurance plans is no easy task. It will require a lot of patience and surveillance. In addition, the ACA’s individual mandated penalty for those who opt out of insurance coverage is steep. There should not be a penalty for families or individuals who do not want to be covered by the insurance. It will be interesting to see how the ACA will impact the United States health care system in the future.
This is when institutions create cancer as the individual challenge to overcome through various health solutions, with the main focus on personal survival or being a survivor. However this titling of women becoming survivors leads to the idea that if a women does not beat her fight that it was individually her inability to fight hard enough. That she becomes not a survivor but rather someone who failed. The blame becomes placed upon the individual women, rather than the effect of the disease. The emphasis has been placed so highly on the campaigning of survivors and that we don’t realize that it’s more than just the individual, that cancer is indeed a disease that effects women differently but socially we aren’t exposed to that. We are under the “tyranny of cheerfulness” that if we donate the money, we buy the products with the pink logo or even celebrate with those women who have beat it we are someone adding to the campaign to find a cure, but are we really? We find ourselves simply engaging within the cheerfulness of the pink ribbon campaign that hides the severity of cancer but claims to be trying to find a cure for it. Large companies, those that work into the pink campaign, create marketing schemes that allow for cancer to be a profit campaign to find the “cure”. Having slogans of “buy it, fight it” or “Blank for the cure” all project the cultural dichotomy of warrior to survivor in women with cancer.
In recent years’ health reform has been a driving force in the United States political system. If you watch the news, you will understand how citizens, the government, or the economy are or might be affected by some sort of change in medical regulation. One of these hot topic issues is the cost of prescription drugs. Every major drug market besides the United States regulates the price of drugs in some way (Abbott and Vernon). By the United States not doing so, many believe it opens consumers up to being exploited by large pharmaceutical companies.
The policy issue I have identified is prescription drug coverage. This interests me because prescription drugs are a major part of modern medicine. They serve as compliments to medical procedures; substitutes for surgery or other procedures; and new treatments where there were none previously (Oliver, Lee & Lipton, 2004). As the medical community’s understanding of the human body increases the possibility for new pharmaceutical interventions will increase.
Leukemia like any other cancer is devastating especially when it affects children and especially when they are too young to understand most of what is happening to their bodies. Facts like these are what should be used to motivate researchers and caregivers to help to make the process of treatment and care for patient dealing with disease one that is pleasant and supportive. The research should be taken seriously and it is hoped that in the future a cure can be found and the cause of the disease can be explained. It is also hoped that achievements like those can give families who are coping with disease or who have lost loved ones to the disease can find closure and solace in knowing that other may not have to go through what they have.
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Tumors are then created and interfere with the digestive, nervous and circulatory systems. It is one of the leading causes of death, reaching 8.2 million deaths in 2012. It is expected that cancer will rise from 14 million to 22 million within the next two decades. With over 100 cancer research centers in the United States studying how to treat this disease, people need to understand the importance of donating, as well as the awareness of signs and symptoms in the early stages.
As human beings, the oral cavity plays a crucial role in every aspect of our daily life. The digestion process begins in the oral cavity. We use our teeth for mastication of food, which allows our body to nourish itself with nutrients that are crucial to our health. Our teeth also give us our individual facial features that are unique from one another. Our tongues help us to communicate with each other in thousands of different languages. Our mouth is used to express our emotions when words are absent. Using our mouth, humans can create music, taste exotic flavors, take in oxygen, and show signs of adoration with our children and partners. Without the function of our mouth and oral cavity, the quality of life is affected physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Eva Grayzel, an oral cancer survivor shared her experiences with oral cancer and how it took her two years to find out that she had oral cancer, after all the experts missed her signs and symptoms. This helps me realize the important of being up-to-date with current dental researches and trends so I can better communicate and help guide my patients to a better oral health. My experience at the WDHA symposium has given me a better knowledge of what the WDHA is and why it is important to be a member and support their cause. I attended two different classes at the symposium; the class in the morning was about “Oral Care for Life” which talks about the different strategies of oral care and the types of dental struggles that different ages experience.
Because 7.6 million people die from cancer every year, action should be taken to find a permanent and effective cure. There is no reason why cancer patients should not receive effective and affordable treatment. Even though there are cancer treatments currently, these treatments being effective, they are costly and cause great pain to the patient.