Hundreds of thousands of Americans are in danger of dying of cancer because of lack of insurance and access to care, warn American Cancer Society leaders.

The Cancer Society last November began national television ads calling the public's attention to needed health-system changes, said Dr. Elmer Huerta, first Hispanic national president of the Cancer Society. “;We are not saying we need to go to the right or left. We just want change.”;

Huerta and Marion Morra, chairwoman of the national board of directors, are keynote speakers at the Hawaii Cancer Society's annual meeting and awards luncheon today at the Bishop Museum.

Discussing the status of U.S. cancer prevention efforts in an interview, Huerta and Morra said a national policy for preventive health is essential because insurance companies often don't pay for preventive services.

Morra said the Cancer Society launched the national advertising campaign to make sure health insurance and health-care reform issues are on the agenda for presidential candidates.

The national organization's goal is to decrease cancer mortality by 50 percent and cancer incidence by 25 percent by 2015, Huerta said. But after a steady 14-year decline in cancer mortality, he said, “;We started to see the curve not doing fine because of the access problem.”;

The nation has 50 million uninsured people and 25 million with inadequate insurance, which puts them at high risk for cancer, a silent condition, he said.

“;There is not any cancer that can give you symptoms in an early stage. It could be weeks, months or years,”; he said, so people without insurance or any symptoms have “;a false sensation of being OK.”;

An uninsured person is 2.4 times more likely to see a doctor with advanced breast cancer than an insured person who can see a doctor for earlier detection, he said. “;Not having access can kill you.”;

Huerta has 20 years experience as a medical oncologist, cancer researcher and educator. He has two daily Spanish-language radio programs aimed at improving health of Latinos in the United States and Latin America and co-hosts a nationally syndicated weekly TV show. He founded and directs the Cancer Preventorium, a clinic in Washington, D.C., dedicated to cancer prevention and control.

Morra, an internationally recognized expert on cancer control and health communications, is the author of six books on cancer with her sister, Eve Potts. A patient self-help book titled “;Choices,”; first published in 1987, is in the fourth edition, acclaimed as the most comprehensive sourcebook for cancer information.

When they wrote the first book in the late 1970s, there was no Internet and no information for patients other than a few cancer society pamphlets, “;and we couldn't use the word 'cure,'”; Morra said. “;Now we're trying to help patients through the morass of information.”;

And “;cure”; is part of the cancer vocabulary because early detection and better treatment have resulted in high survival rates for many forms of cancer. At a television appearance for the second edition of “;Choices,”; Morra said, a man in the audience said information in the first book saved his life.

“;It was a moment I'll never forget.”;