Empowering. Inspiring. Hopeful.

“I became a breast cancer advocate when I listened to women at my support group meetings explain that due to financial need, they had to continue working through chemo treatments…I was appalled! Having been through chemo myself, I don’t know how they were lucid enough to continue working. Today, I had the opportunity to advocate, w/VBCF, on behalf of chemo patients for Paid Sick Leave…I hope legislators heard our voices!”
Bernice O’DonnellVBCF Volunteer Advocate, Richmond

“Empowering. Inspiring. Hopeful. Positive. Informative.” These are the words VBCF’s volunteer advocates used to describe their meetings with their Virginia Delegates and Senators during the 2020 State Breast Cancer Advocacy Day held on February 13, 2020.  Our advocates met with over 20 legislators this year to share their cancer stories and discuss key health care legislation working its way through the General Assembly. 

To kick-off the day, our advocates had the opportunity to hear from Virginia’s Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Resources Gena Berger.  The Deputy Secretary gave a terrific overview of Governor Northam’s budget priorities related to health care. 

Then, it was off to the General Assembly to meet with Delegates and Senators. VBCF’s volunteer advocates shared their personal breast cancer experiences.  In turn, many legislators shared their own connections. Several legislators have family members who are breast cancer survivors, and unfortunately, a few have lost a loved one to this devastating disease.  It was a powerful reminder of just how many Virginians are touched by breast cancer.

VBCF advocates also highlighted the key health care legislation that VBCF supports in the 2020 General Assembly Session.  Since the beginning of the session, VBCF has been hard at work educating legislators about the importance of these issues for those with breast cancer.  But, hearing directly from constituents is even more important. The following bills are still “alive,” having made it through Crossover out of their respective chamber (House or Senate). Bills must be passed by both the House and Senate to become law, so these bills will now be considered by the opposite chamber.  We will be watching closely as the session continues:

Paid Sick Leave – SB 481 (Favola) – Approximately 1.2 million workers in Virginia have no paid sick days or paid time off. These workers must often choose between taking care of themselves or getting paid. VBCF believes it is essential for all workers to have paid time off to get needed medical care, including breast cancer screenings and, if needed, treatment.  VBCF supports this bill which would create a paid sick day standard in Virginia.

Ending surprise medical billing – SB 172 (Favola) – Too many Virginians are receiving “surprise medical bills” for out-of-network charges that they did not know about and therefore could not avoid. VBCF is especially concerned about this practice given recent research from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that 20+% of mastectomy patients have received a surprise bill from an out-of-network provider. VBCF supports SB 172 as it addresses surprise billing not only in emergency situations, but also in scheduled, non-emergency procedures such as mastectomies, and takes patients out of the middle.   

Limitations on short-term, limited-duration health care plans – HB 1037 (Rasoul)/ SB 404 (Hashmi)

VBCF supports limiting the sale of short-term, limited-duration health care plans (STLDP).  These health insurance plans can serve as a stop-gap measure for some consumers, but should be kept “short-term.” STLDPs are not required to adhere to a vast range of important patient protections. Among other things, they can refuse coverage for pre-existing conditions and choose not to cover essential health care services, including cancer screenings.  For these reasons, STLDPs are a poor coverage option for consumers who may encounter a serious diagnosis while holding such limited coverage. 

Nondiscrimination in health insurance coverage based on gender identity or transgender status – HB 1429 (Roem)

Transgender individuals should have access to all health care services they need, including breast cancer screening and treatment, regardless if those services are ordinarily or exclusively available to covered individuals of one gender. VBCF supports this bill which will prohibit health carriers from denying or limiting coverage or imposing additional cost-sharing or other limitations on coverage, to a transgender individual on the basis of the fact that the individual’s gender assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded is different from the one to which such health services are ordinarily or exclusively available.

Our sincere thanks to all the volunteer breast cancer survivors and advocates who attended the 2020 State Breast Cancer Advocacy Day and made their voices heard! VBCF would also like to thank the Sands Anderson law firm for providing us a beautiful meeting space downtown, as well as Perk! Bon Air for the delicious refreshments. 

“Senator Hashmi said that our meeting today reminded her that she needed to schedule her mammogram.” 

Photo Gallery