Enter Your Email Address to Receive a
Copy of MedicExhange Member Demograhpics

Women's health advocates, healthcare professionals, breast cancer survivors etc will discuss and protest cuts to the Every Woman Counts program, which provided free mammograms to underserved women.

On Jan. 1, the state suspended the mammograms for new patients until July. When services are reinstated, the program will no longer screen women ages 40 to 49.

Of particular concern is whether there will be funding to resume the mammography screening on July 1, the committee's chairwoman, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa.  said.

Dr. Sharon Lum, a surgical oncologist and medical director of the Breast Health Center at the Loma Linda University Cancer Institute, said the six-month time lag means cancers will be found at more advanced levels. Cancer tumors can double in size every six weeks to six months, depending on the type of cancer, she said.

In San Bernardino and Riverside counties, prices for mammograms range from $138 to $420, said Tammi Graham, interim clinic operations manager for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health.

Top officials of Dallas-based Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's largest network of breast cancer patients, are concerned that cuts to the screening program in California will become a national trend as revenue-challenged states seek ways to cut costs, said Katie Parker, executive director of the group's Inland Empire affiliate in Temecula.

About 300,000 women statewide were served through the program during its last full year of operations.

Low-income women in at least 20 states are being turned away or put on long waiting lists for free cancer screenings, according to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network.

Through July 1, Every Woman Counts will continue to offer screenings for cervical cancer, said Graham, who manages the program for the San Bernardino County Health Department.

Among the priorities of the Assembly Budget Committee hearing is to learn about the ramifications of the decision to limit mammograms to women ages 50 and older after July 1.

Last year, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, a group of experts that makes recommendations on policies to prevent diseases, recommended mammograms for women starting at age 50 rather than age 40.But the state's decision was not related to task force recommendations, said Al Lundeen, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. The result was a conclusion to bump up the screening age, Lundeen said.

Source : Daily Bulletin

You can get more details about Mammography & its related topics from our Mammography User Group.