In addition to stress and anxiety, such delays increase risk of death by 1.2 to 3.2 percent per week, according to ASTRO, which proposes that CMS require Medicare Advantage to align prior authorization requirements with the Consensus Statement on Improving the Prior Authorization Process.

Another proposal was an increase of at least $2.5 billion in federal funding for cancer medical research performed by the National Institutes of Health, and at least $378 million for the National Cancer Institute, for the financial year 2020. It asserts that such investments provide significant advances in radiation oncology and help decrease cancer-related deaths, the last recording of which, from 2016, puts this rate at 27 percent lower than its status 25 years ago, and has resulted in the aversion of 2.4 million cancer-related deaths.

The last of its proposals revolves around the preservation of access to radioactive source-based technology in healthcare, with advocates arguing that attempts to limit such access prevent patients from receiving lifesaving radiotherapy treatments. "Misinformation can lead to fear-driven policies that could reduce access to radiation therapy," said Harari. "Additionally, pressures to abandon these technologies in favor of so-called replacement technologies fail to consider that cancer cure rates can be directly compromised and in most cases there are no equivalent technologies."

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