By Ronald Blocker Sr.
Cancer devastates far too many Marylanders, but it doesn’t affect us all equally. Statistics from Johns Hopkins have shown that African Americans die of the disease at a disproportionate rate. If we have the opportunity to address this problem– shouldn’t we do so?
There are new technologies that have shown great promise in large-scale clinical trials. Blood tests that can detect dozens of different types of cancer from a simple draw of a patient’s blood. By diagnosing the disease early, physicians will have greater opportunity to save lives.
Once these are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it is critical that they can be made accessible, especially for those with the greatest propensity for being afflicted with cancer. I want to thank our own Sen. Ben Cardin, who has been a strong advocate in Congress for the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Act.
I call on each of Maryland’s representatives in Congress to help Sen. Cardin advocate for and pass this bill, which would clear harmful red tape and bureaucratic delays and enable Medicare to cover these new cancer screenings for older Americans.
We look forward to the successful passage of this much needed bill.
Ronald Blocker Sr. is a prostate cancer survivor.
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