For Americans with cancer, building back better from the pandemic should improve local care – not destroy it, causing higher costs and less access to community cancer doctors.

But, with Congress on the verge of rushing through massive changes to Medicare in the Build Back Better (BBB) Act, an independent analysis shows that payments for cancer care will be slashed by close to 45%.

History clearly shows that major cancer care payment cuts cause independent cancer care providers to close or merge with expensive hospital systems. If community oncology practices close because of the BBB Act, the result will be higher patient costs and more Medicare spending, not less.