• ABC News, Wednesday, September 19, 2007 11:30 AM

The American Cancer Society, abandoning a long tradition of political neutrality, is entering the healthcare debate with an ad campaign that calls for a fix to America's "broken system." The new effort features cancer patients who have been denied access to treatment because they had no insurance -- or ruined financially even when they did. The idea is to generate discussion on healthcare reform.

Dr. Bill Walker, chairman of the California Public Hospitals Association, says the uninsured are often diagnosed later when cancer is tougher to cure. "The American Cancer Society is now focusing on the issue of if you really want to deal with a response to cancer, you've got to address health insurance," he says, rather than airing a simple prevention message.

The group now ranks a lack of access to health care as the second-biggest contributor to cancer mortality after smoking.

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