Assembly Subcommittee Votes To Allocate Funds to Prostate Cancer Program Slated for Elimination
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services on Monday voted to maintain the Improving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer, or IMPACT, program using money that had been allocated to the program in previous years but had not been spent, the Sacramento Bee reports (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 3/16). The Department of Health Services eliminated contracts for IMPACT, which provides treatment for low-income, uninsured men with prostate cancer, in December because of $1.1 billion in funding cuts (California Healthline, 2/6). However, Finance Department official Michael Tucker on Monday announced that his department had located the unspent money. "This is the first time we're hearing about it," IMPACT Administrator Dr. Mark Litwin said, adding, "It's certainly good news." IMPACT administrators already have removed some patients from the program, and about 60 men with prostate cancer have been placed on a waiting list for the program. The Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) still must approve the allocation of the money to IMPACT in the fiscal year 2004-2005 state budget (Sacramento Bee, 3/16). IMPACT, which is based at the University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center, was launched in July 2001 to provide treatment to men between ages 18 and 65 who have annual incomes of less than $18,000 (California Healthline, 2/6).
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