When someone is diagnosed with cancer, he or she should have access to the best experts and care available.

Unfortunately, as a country we are faced with a healthcare crisis that is impacting the quality of cancer care available to patients.

According to the American Cancer Society, 4,000 Americans are diagnosed with cancer every day. Physicians in private offices and community hospitals treat 84 percent of these patients.

More cuts in Medicare, which covers approximately 45 percent of Americans with cancer, will force community oncologists to further subsidize the cost of cancer care. This cost is ultimately passed on to patients, many of whom forgo treatment or portions of their treatment due to their inability to pay.

My colleagues and I were recently in Washington asking representatives to avoid making cuts that would be devastating to patients and their providers. Yes, our country’s healthcare system needs to be fixed. But it needs to be a strategic evolution that reduces costs in ways that won’t cripple important segments of patient care.

I urge our patients, friends, family and neighbors to become educated on healthcare reform issues and ask Congress and our President to take a careful look at the changes they make to our healthcare system. We don’t just need reform. We need smart reform.

Almost every one of us is or will be touched by cancer in some way. Cancer patients are our family, our friends, our co-workers and ourselves. This is an issue that impacts all of us so we must be actively engaged in the conversation.