The Frontlines of the Fight
ZERO’s state-by-state strategy includes New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, California, and Texas as we work toward our goal of expanding prostate cancer screening mandates to half the United States by 2030. Our recent wins prove that advocates like you are the changemakers that will make our vision of a prostate cancer-free future a reality.
In a victory for prostate cancer patients, families, and advocates, Congress maintained federal research funding for the Department of Defense’s Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) for 2021 of $100 million, despite many other demands on the funding budget. This year, we are pushing for $120 million in funding to ensure progress is made for patients as the PCRP is the most successful prostate cancer research program in the nation. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heroes like you advocated for $14.2 million in funding for the CDC’s Comprehensive Cancer Control Program. CDC funding will be used to sustain vital outreach to Black men and men with a family history of prostate cancer to spread awareness and education about their increased risk for the disease, ensuring at-risk men in rural and
Because of the tireless efforts of you and other committed cause heroes around the country, we’ve had many recent advocacy wins at both the national and state levels for prostate cancer patients and their families. From eliminating state-level cost-sharing for prostate cancer screenings to increased communication with lawmakers across the country, together, we are engaging thousands of advocates, Champions, and friends nationwide to help put building a ZERO prostate cancer future at the forefront of the national priority list. With your help, ZERO advanced bills to eliminate cost-sharing for prostate cancer MD
difficult-to-reach areas understand the importance of early detection. Advocates’ efforts at the 2022 Summit led to the introduction of H.R. 7750 , the Prostate Cancer Community Education, Research, and Education Act, a bill that would create a federal coordinating committee for prostate cancer research, ensuring that the end of prostate cancer comes as quickly and efficiently as possible. This year, more ZERO advocates connected with their elected officials at the state and local levels than ever before. We saw new advocates use their voices at our first ever Veterans Prostate Cancer Advocacy Day, the kickoff to an ongoing series of small-scale Advocacy Days that keep the momentum from the ZERO Prostate Cancer Summit going all year long. As our community of ZERO advocates gets larger and louder, we look forward to seeing the larger and louder impact on federal and state policy to improve the lives of those affected by prostate cancer.
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screenings, with Rhode Island and Illinois joining New York and Maryland as states that require full insurance coverage of the PSA blood test. In our most recent win, ZERO and advocates in Illinois helped
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (R) signed House Bill 5318 in June of 2022 at the University of Illinois Cancer Center in Chicago, Illinois. This bill, sponsored by Illinois House of Representatives member and prostate cancer survivor, La Shawn K. Ford (L), requires insurers to provide prostate cancer screenings without cost-sharing requirements. “ I KNOW THE PERSONAL COST of waiting too long to be diagnosed with prostate cancer – including more aggressive treatment, more side effects, and more anguish for a man and his loved ones. Early prostate cancer screening and diagnosis can be the difference between successful treatment and a life that ends too soon. “ La Shawn K. Ford Illinois State Representative
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pass a lifesaving legislative effort in the state that will increase access to prostate cancer screening by ensuring that coverage is guaranteed for an annual prostate cancer screening and follow-up diagnostic testing without imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement. This newly passed bill has the power to support early detection efforts and will save lives, improve health care access, and help increase equity in prostate cancer outcomes.
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