Advocates highlight Lung Cancer Awareness Month in D.C. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and advocates warn that the federal government shutdown is disrupting potentially lifesaving research.

“A lot of the research that was ongoing or is about to start, or hopefully will start, is brought to a halt. And unfortunately, science isn’t something you can just turn on and off, so it really needs that sustainability and the continuity that federal funding provides to them,” said Andrea Ferris, president and chief executive officer of LUNGevity Foundation.

On Wednesday, the LUNGevity Foundation held a news conference on the National Mall to advocate for research funding. Terri Ann DiJulio, a member of the LUNGevity Foundation’s board of directors, was first diagnosed with lung cancer when she was just 42 years old. She said early detection is key. 

“We need research funding, not only to develop better treatment options, but to create better, more accessible detection tools to find lung cancer earlier, when it’s most treatable and when people have the most, greatest chance for a cure,” DiJulio said. 

The Trump Administration has cut thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, Democrats are seeking an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies as part of any government funding deal. 

“Right now, we’re in the fight of our lives with the extension of the ACA tax credits that provides literal lifesaving health care coverage for health care patients,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said.

“So, we already have the difficulty and challenge of getting people to be aware of the opportunity to get screened for lung cancer. If you don’t have health care coverage, then you’re not going to be able to have access to that because you won’t be able to afford the cost of it.”

A group of bipartisan House lawmakers, including Wasserman Schultz, have co-sponsored the Lung Cancer Screening and Prevention Act requiring Medicare to cover more screenings, and the Mobile Cancer Screening Act to expand access to rural and underserved communities. 

The disease kills roughly 120,000 Americans every year, according to the LUNGevity Foundation.