LIVESTRONG BLOG

I cant believe that Obama would turn down and invitation when Cancer effects everyone and does not discriminate.

kind makes me wonder what side he is really on.

Im sorry but if he cant support this cause then Im afraid I cant support his.

Senator McCain needs to be respectfully challenged, with an insistence for specific answers regarding the following:

His emphasis on reducing medical costs can only be accomplished by disenfranchising those of us who have (expensive) pre-existing and/or chronic conditions.

His counterstatements that care for those with pre-existing and chronic conditions can be dealt with through federal/state/insurer partnerships can only mean a Medicare outsourcing program like Maryland’s where less than minimal treatment is provided by lowest bidders.

His references to managed care being based on keeping subscribers healthy is a mantra heard 25 years ago when insurers were lobbying congress for “Health Maintenance Organizations” … a term that was quickly changed to “Health Management Organizations” as soon as enabling legislation was passed.

His proposal that employer-based, group-rate, shared-risk health insurance will be replaced by individual coverage much like car insurance is nothing more than a profitability guarantee for insurers … at the expense of older, higher risk people who tend to have more pre-existing and chronic conditions which would be cause for denial or exorbitant rates.

He needs to be asked if government insulation from risk for the managed care industry will be accompanied by the removal of civil litigation and other statutory protections that they currently enjoy because of being in a risk business.

In general, his $2,500 tax credit proposal would only benefit those in their 20′s with perfect health. For those with pre-existing or chronic conditions, it MIGHT pay for one or two months of individual coverage premiums … if the individual were lucky enough to find coverage at all.

Senator McCain should also be challenged on the Fair-Issac corporation’s ‘secret study’ being conducted for the managed care industry regarding use of credit information for individual health insurance denial and/or for charging exorbitant individual rates (as is already being done with property casualty insurances) … a subject that can only have a devastating impact on pre-existing and chronic condition individuals who have often found themselves in difficult medical AND financial conditions.

His references to America’s need for wellness and fitness are generally correct … but, as those of us in the cycling and other sports communities know all too well, wellness and fitness will not prevent cancer … as demonstrated by the recent lymphoma death of international sailor Mark Rudiger … and that of the physically fit Tony Snow.

I personally was a ‘poster child’ for fitness and wellness having ridden 1,210 miles at age 59 during 2006 … right up to weeks before a huge lymphoma mass was discovered in my right lung. I was back on my bike during my 2007 treatment … and rode in the 2007 LIVESTRONG Challenge … as I am again this year … but know that it will have minimal or NO effect on the possibility of recurrence.

In short, it is my opinion that Senator McCain’s ‘Plan’ is nothing more than ‘smoke and mirrors’ for which he is reciting the managed care industry lobby.

At the risk of sounding cynical … the ONLY way the managed care industry can seriously cut costs is to deny coverage to those with pre-existing and chronic condition Americans. Simple logic dictates that cost reduction increases as the number of Americans facing cancer with undetected and untreated conditions also increases.

For background, I am a life-long Republican and Navy veteran who has generally voted the ‘party line’ … but will not blindly follow Senator McCain down this ‘path of medical destruction.’

In my opinion, Senator McCain’s ‘plan’ to individualize managed care insurance is headed in completely the wrong direction … when it SHOULD be encouraging employers to provide group rate, shared risk health insurance with meaningful tax credits for doing so.

The United States has ALWAYS maintained that we do not need a government owned and operated health care system because of the strength of our employer-based system. The destruction of that system can only result in giving the American public the WORST of both worlds.

I lived and worked in Canada for 20 years. For all its faults, Canada’s provincial system would be FAR superior for the average American than Senator McCain’s proposal.

Thank you … and please don’t be afraid to ask him the hard questions. Those questions can’t be any harder than hearing the words “You have cancer.”

It’s a pretty good Mcsame angle Doug Ulman takes in saying that Obama declined the town hall meeting and didn’t bother to mention that he isn’t even in country. I have supported LAF since 2004, 3 years before I was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer and all the fun associated with same. It now becomes apparent that Armstrong is as political as any other group. I have always voted Republican (age 59) but not this time and LAF will be hard pressed to get another donation from me.

Another event that may be of interest is The Cancer Project’s Cancer and Nutrition Symposium in DC this August. The focus of the event is on preventive measures, particularly changes in diet, that reduce the risk of cancer. Amazing speakers will be sharing their breakthrough research on key issues in food and cancer. The LAF has worked with The Cancer Project in the past, making the organization a part of the Stories of Impact video and sponsoring their Nutrition classes. You can learn more about the event by going to http://www.cancerproject.org/symposium.

Tom makes some good points, but both candidates are likely partly or wholly “owned” by the health care industry.

I don’t think Obama blithely brushed off the invitation – he might have had earlier commitments.

I’d like to see a proposal for government-sponsored life insurance. If my employer didn’t offer any (or if I lost my job for some reason), I’d be un-insurable until 2011 due to my cancer surgery in 2006.

I’d also like to see wider publicity regarding testicular cancer in particular. It’s often only mentioned as an off-color joke, but it’s no laughing matter for a young man to have to choose between letting the cancer kill you but dying “a man” or having surgery and coping with the resulting drastic changes.

We have received a few comments about our town hall this week and wanted to provide a little more information.

As a 501c3 non-profit organization, we are non-partisan, do not endorse candidates and offer equal opportunities for them to talk to our members about their plans to combat cancer.

Our goal is to provide a forum for our members and the voters to hear how candidates from both parties intend to fight this disease, soon to be the #1 killer in America. Cancer is a non-partisian issue and we will need both sides of the aisle to help us reach our goals of eradicating suffering and death due to cancer.

Last year we hosted the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum and were excited that Senators Clinton, Edwards and Brownback, Governors Richardson and Huckabee, and Representative Kucinich attended and discussed their positions and strategies for fighting this disease.

Following that event last August, as we began planning many months ago for our Summit this week, we asked both presumptive nominees to attend and address our constituents and the millions of people who are affected by this disease.

Senator McCain accepted our invitation several months ago and will address our audience on Thursday. Senator Obama, citing scheduling conflicts, had to unfortunately decline last week.

We are excited that Senator McCain is taking this opportunity to address our membership and we look forward to hearing from Senator Obama before November 4th on his ideas and plans for how his administration would fight cancer.

We very much appreciate the feedback and thoughts of our members. Please keep them coming!

I too must voice my concern and fear about judging Obama so quickly because he is not attending this one event. There is nothing in the announcement I received that says whether Sen. Obama was not “able” to attend or whether he decided “not” to attend. I wouldn’t be so quick to cast those stones without more information at hand. As well, keep in mind that Sen. Obama has had some personal experience, as many of us have, with this horrible disease – his mother succumbed to Ovarian Cancer some years ago at a young age.

Unless you live under a rock, Obama is in the Middle East and the planning and coordination for that takes a LONG time. I too am sorry he cannot attend but to severely criticize him for “declining” the invitation is really unfair, borderline absurd.

My husband just died 2 months ago after 17 years of brain cancer. We have 4 children. He did EVERYTHING in his power, and the power of all those in the medical field, and still he died after a brutal battle. I am very interested in what both candidates have to say about cancer care…receiving word that you have brain cancer today leaves you at about the same place it left my husband 17 years ago…stay alive until treatment catches up…and it hasn’t,

I see that almost everyone is picking on Senator Obama because he couldn’t make the event. While your complaining about him not attending, did you ever think about where he is instead of attending the summit? No, some of you didn’t because you forgot that he is out there in the middle east trying to find a way to resolve the issues there that influence the lives of so many people in the US. One big thing being GAS!! I don’t care how much of a republican some people care to be gas prices aren’t discriminating against people either.

And with increasing gas prices, comes an increase in daily living especially in a task as simple as trying to feed your family. Don’t knock the man for trying to build something with a country that your current president decided to take war upon simply because he decided he needed to stick up for his father and fight a battle that wasn’t necessary.

I will never understand why the US president feel as though we should always bully our way into another country simply because their way of living don’t meet up to our standards. With all the homeless and proverty stricken people in his own country bush has yet to think of a solution for the problems that exist within his own country instead of those overseas.

I echo the seniment that the way you presented the news that John Mccain accepting and Obama refusing was misleading.

I live in Columbus Ohio and at least our local newspaper put the reason why Obama would not be present.

I have locally advanced prostate cancer andI volunteered for the summit and was invited to the presidential town hall meeting.

Our local news last night said that Lance Armstrong supported John McCain and McCain was asked about him announcing his vice president candidate at the affair. He would not comment but would not say he would or not. I just hope this is not just a campaign for John McCain.

I guess I will see firsthand tonight.

I don’t understand why saying that Obama declined is such a contentious issue. The LAF is stating a fact, that he is not there, period.

For me, it’s about priorities. Obama is giving a speech to 200,000 citizens of a country that is not the USA. For some reason campaigning in Europe is more important than this and probably many other things he could be doing here. McCain is staying here dealing with issues that we are facing in this country.

I can understand the criticism of Senator Obama not attending the Livestrong Summit, but to automatically conclude that because McCain showed up at the event that he is the candidate that will stand up to fight cancer is absurd.

Lance’s fight is bipartisan for a reason. His speeches on the Hill and these summits still continue because our current government refuses to truly address cancer as an issue.

Look at the healthcare plans of both candidates before you decide who to elect.

I agree that we should be discussing Senator McCain’s plan on its merits … and reserve discussion of Senator Obama until he presents his plan.

I appreciate Senator McCain’s position that he would increase National Cancer Institute funding … but can’t predict how much until faced with a complete federal budget.

I was upset by the lame way he tried to dodge Paula Zahn’s pressure about resisting an increase in federal tobacco taxes for designated specific uses like increasing National Cancer Institute funding.

His plan to create a ‘risk pool’ for those of us with pre-existing and/or chronic conditions (often both with the after-effects of aggressive treatments) was an admission that he would relegate us to second-class citizen status.

His reference to a ‘federal, state and industry partnership’ was nothing more than a reference to the substandard care and denial already faced by Medicaid recipients in states like Maryland in which mdical coverage for the uninsurable is outsourced to low bidders so that the federal and state partners can claim to have done “something.”

This is NOT acceptable to this Republican Navy veteran with chronic respiratory problems from my aggressive Stage III/IV Lymphoma treatments a year ago.

Regardless … its time for this 61-year old to take a 50-mile bike ride before it gets too hot. I am doing everyting I can for my fitness, health and wellness … and GREATLY resent Senator McCain’s efforts to relegate me to the ranks of uninsured second-class citizenship.

I agree that Senator Obama shouldn’t necessarily be judged poorly simply for not attending this one event, but the questions about his absence are valid, considering how far ahead of time this event was planned (surely well before his Mideast trip). Also, he was the only candidate who failed to attend the AARP’s Democratic health-care debate during the primaries, opting instead to do campaign events. Of course this doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about these issues, but it is fair to question how high they would rank in his priorities as President.

I have the sense his campaign assumes that we’ll just accept that now that Hillary is out of the picture, Obama, as the Democrat, is naturally the better candidate (as opposed to the Republican) on health care issues. It is important Obama’s campaign realize that he needs to make the effort to show health care issues are not only important to him, but that he has the better plan to address them. Otherwise, he leaves himself open to a Republican, John McCain, who isn’t afraid to address these issues with directness and candor.

I attended the Republican AARP health care forum last fall, when only two Rep. candidates showed up — McCain being one. Obama needs to show he has the same willingness and ability to address these issues head on. Even though I don’t agree with much of McCain’s plan, I respect him for continually “showing up” on these issues, and suspect other voters will, too.