New House bill would create a National Blood Cancer Program to expand awareness, research and access to treatment
A newly introduced House bill would establish a National Blood Cancer Program within the federal government to coordinate efforts on awareness, research and access to care for blood cancers. The measure, H.R. 10858 — the Coordinating Access, Research, and Education for Blood Cancer Act of 2026, or CARE for Blood Cancer Act — was introduced on Oct. 22, 2026, by Representative Nanette Barragán (D CA-44) and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. As a newly introduced bill, it awaits committee consideration and has not been scheduled for a vote.
Under the bill, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would carry out the National Blood Cancer Program with four stated goals: developing and disseminating public information and education for detecting and controlling blood cancer; improving the training and skills of health professionals in detecting and controlling it; supporting people diagnosed with blood cancer and their caregivers, including through treatments and clinical trials; and evaluating those activities through monitoring. The bill directs the Secretary to coordinate and align the program's work across federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.
The bill would create two grant programs. One would fund research on best practices for blood-cancer awareness and education — including behavioral and survivorship studies, work to develop public educational messaging, and efforts to reduce disparities in incidence, diagnostic delays, access to treatment, and mortality in populations with higher-than-average rates. Those grants would go to state, local, territorial or tribal health agencies, qualified nongovernmental entities, or consortiums that include such agencies, with priority for communities and areas at high risk of blood cancer. The second program would fund research to improve the availability of, and access to, diagnostics and treatments — including developing new screening methods for early detection, developing new treatments, and assessing family history and genetic predisposition. Those grants would go to institutions of higher education or academic medical centers.
The bill also requires the Secretary to report to Congress each year on the program's outcomes, including the grants awarded, the number of people served — broken down by demographic data and by whether they live in rural, suburban or urban areas — and any barriers to accessing the program's resources.
Barragán introduced the bill with 11 cosponsors. Nine are Democrats: Jim Costa (D CA-21), John Garamendi (D CA-8), Jonathan Jackson (D IL-1), Hank Johnson (D GA-4), Doris Matsui (D CA-7), LaMonica McIver (D NJ-10), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D DC-At Large), Lateefah Simon (D CA-12) and Rashida Tlaib (D MI-12). Two are Republicans: Brian Fitzpatrick (R PA-1) and Pete Sessions (R TX-17).
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