Kennedy has major cancer bill in Senate (Boston Globe 5/27/08)

[Muttocracy]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/05/27/kennedy_has_major_cancer_bill_in_senate/

Kennedy has major cancer bill in Senate
By Andrew Miga
Associated Press Writer / May 27, 2008

WASHINGTON—Sen. Edward Kennedy's battle with a malignant brain tumor is likely to put a dramatic personal stamp on a health care cause he first championed nearly 40 years ago: The nation's war on cancer.

Kennedy had already begun work on an overhaul of the 1971 National Cancer Act when his tumor was diagnosed, and advocates hope the fact that Kennedy has fallen victim to this disease will generate public support and lend new urgency to the need to update the bill.

...

"With that diagnosis, the irony for us is Senator Kennedy has been one of our great champions," Smith said. The 76-year-old Kennedy has been a prominent and passionate advocate of cancer research and other health care issues throughout his long tenure in the Senate.

His name has become virtually synonymous with the push for universal health care coverage. He was a leader in enacting several landmark bills, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill protecting workers from losing health insurance when they switch jobs, or from being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.


...
The bill Kennedy plans to put forth seeks to improve the coordination of cancer research, prevention and treatment while giving more money to the National Cancer Institute and other public research agencies.

[midnight]

1. Cancer is a devastating disease that requires so much support

and medical treatment. People going through this hell, should not have to worry about resources.

[VP505]

2. Sad that Senator Kennedy

has to be the one to put a face on a major Cancer bill. Lets see his colleagues on the other side of the isle look him in the face and vote against it. This will really separate the peoples representatives from the elected corporate whores.