Metastatic breast cancer means that a patient is in cancer treatment for the rest of their life, with the goal of prolonging both length and quality of life. But the treatments, lab work, imaging tests, and frequent appointments are already a tremendous toll to navigate. Adding the cost and time of navigating health coverage, which leads to delays and added burden, is unnecessary. Supporting legislation to eliminate red tape for patients and their families is an easy choice.
Eliminating arbitrary federal healthcare waiting periods is a clinical, financial, and ethical necessity for rural health equity…
When terminal patients are forced into the 5-month SSDI and 24-month Medicare waiting periods, the financial burden falls heavily on both the patient’s family and the local rural hospital system, subsidizing uncompensated care.
Many patients work despite very advanced illness because the disability process takes so long. I have watched patients delay life-extending treatment, hide their diagnosis from employers, and push through debilitating symptoms, all because they cannot afford to give up their paycheck and health insurance tied to their job.
The… waiting period asks a person with a terminal illness to keep working through pain, fatigue, and treatment side effects, at the exact moment they should be focused on their care. This burden falls hardest on low-income patients, who are far less likely than their wealthier counterparts to have family or friends who can cover rent, food, gas, or utilities, forcing the individual to continue working. This delay forces sick people to choose between their health and their wellbeing, and it disproportionately harms those who already face the steepest barriers to care.
Patients with a new diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer face enormous physical and emotional burdens. Insurance coverage during this vulnerable time is absolutely critical to not add substantial financial burden to patients.
Metastatic breast cancer remains incurable and requires ongoing treatment and supportive care. Patients should be able to focus on living as well as possible and spending meaningful time with their families—not on navigating unnecessary barriers to obtaining the benefits they have earned.
As a breast medical oncologist, I regularly witness the impact of safety net programs that do not include specific or appropriate policies for patients with advanced cancer. Unlike many disabling conditions which may improve or even resolve with time, or continue in a chronic stable manner, metastatic breast cancer is a uniformly incurable condition that requires constant and often intensive medical treatment that progressively causes life-altering symptoms.
The time required to receive benefits is roughly similar to the average survival time for patients with some aggressive subtypes, and the lack of reliable access to insurance and the quality medical care available through insurance mean many are irreparably harmed and their lives shortened by the time they can access benefits. All these stresses come at a time when a patient and their family are already coping with a devastating diagnosis and when every day counts. An individual patient with metastatic cancer should not have to prove that the diagnosis will adversely and permanently affect their ability to perform paid work; our medical community is already confident that this is true. I support evidence-based, appropriate policy decisions that enable our patients to continue to live full lives, and access medical care with dignity, for all the time they survive with metastatic disease.
![[this] is a critical step in protecting these patients and their families, so women can focus on getting lifesaving treatment and making memories instead of fighting for their basic needs.](https://www.stopbreastcancer.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/experts-say-rachel.png)
As a breast medical oncologist and health services researcher, I am committed to improving the lives of people living with metastatic breast cancer. Through my research, I have seen that access to health care can meaningfully affect outcomes for patients with metastatic disease. We observed that improvements in access to coverage were associated with better survival outcomes and a reduction in disparities among patients with de novo stage IV breast cancer.
Ensuring that patients can access the treatments and supportive services they need is an important step toward improving both quality of life and outcomes.
Financial toxicity impacts the overwhelming majority of individuals living with metastatic breast cancer.
Employer-based health insurance is at risk for women when they take required time away from their jobs to receive cancer therapy and manage side effects from treatment; working aged women (<65 yo) are at risk of being uncovered for medical care at a time they need it most. Moreover, existing health system resources and non-profit organizations do not adequately cover the indirect medical costs of parking, food, wigs, prostheses and childcare.
Allowing women ages 18-64 to immediately secure federal healthcare coverage is a critical step in protecting these patients and their families, so women can focus on getting lifesaving treatment and making memories instead of fighting for their basic needs.
