Posts Tagged ‘mammogram’

HHS and CDC Form a Breast Cancer Panel to Encourage Initiatives for Women Under 40

Monday, November 1st, 2010

New government-led panel will raise breast cancer awareness among young women. The Department of Health and Human Services celebrated National Mammography Day by establishing an advisory committee under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The 15-member panel will develop initiatives to increase awareness of breast cancer among women under the age of 40.  “From prevention research, to education for health professionals, to designing and promoting awareness activities for the public, we look forward to working with the committee to educate providers, patients and young women about breast cancer prevention and treatments,” said Thomas Frieden, CDC director.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the panel in a conference call with Jill Biden, who in 1993 established the Biden Breast Health Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides educational breast awareness programs in Delaware.  In 17 years, approximately 10,000 high school girls have learned about breast cancer awareness through the program.  Biden established her program in a year when four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The Affordable Care Act includes a provision that if a woman or her family is enrolled in a health plan on or after September 23, 2010, mammograms will be required coverage for women aged 40 and above.  Additionally, the act bans insurers from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits for women.  Beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare patients will be able to have mammograms with no co-payment.  Sebelius noted that 100 American women die each day from breast cancer, though survival rates run as high as 98 percent after five years if the disease is detected early.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare, Hospital Systems | No Comments »

Healthcare Reform Promotes Breast Cancer Awareness Among Younger Women

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

New healthcare law provides grants to help breast cancer patients aged 15 to 44. One little-discussed provision in the healthcare reform law is designed to increase awareness of breast cancer risk in young women aged 15 to 44.   Under the law, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will create educational campaigns to focus on breast cancer risk in young women and to promote prevention and early detection  Additionally, the law provides grants to groups that help young women with breast cancer, and directs the National Institutes of Health to develop new screening tests aimed at enhancing early detection.  The law provides $9 million for these efforts on a yearly basis between 2010 and 2014.

Just 10 percent of the approximately 250,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer annually are aged 45 or younger, according to the American Cancer Society.  Breast cancer tends to be more aggressive in younger women, with an 83 percent five-year survival rate, compared with 90 percent for women older than 45.  The lower survival rate for younger breast cancer patients is partly due to deferred diagnoses and a lack of screening because of the low incidence.  Mammograms of younger women’s breasts can be hard to read because the tissue is often too dense to be evaluated effectively by X-ray.

The advocacy group Young Survival Coalition encourages women to act quickly if they notice a change in their breasts.  “Be familiar with the look, feel and shape of your breasts, so that if something develops you’re aware of it,” said Stacy Lewis, the group’s vice president of programming.  “If you see a change, go see a doctor, and if you’re told that it’s probably nothing, go to another provider.”

The healthcare reform law’s most significant provisions related to breast cancer in younger women may be those that encourage research.  Because screening women before age 40 isn’t always practical, identifying young women who are at risk is vital, said Dr. Therese Bevers, medical director of the cancer prevention center at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston.  “We’ve got to have a way of picking out the right young women,” she said. “Otherwise we’ll miss cases.”

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare, Wellness Centers | No Comments »

Why Russ Feingold Voted No

Monday, December 14th, 2009

One of the most surprising votes in the process to pass comprehensive healthcare reform is Senator Russell Feingold’s (D-WI) vote against an amendment sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to fund women’s preventive health services.  The amendment, which will eliminate deductibles and co-payments for screenings like mammograms, passed by 61 – 39, with two Democrats voting “nay” and three Republicans voting “yea”.

Writing on AlterNet, a syndication service and online community of the alternative press, featuring news stories from alternative newsweeklies, magazines and the web, Daniela Perdomo notes that the amendment “guarantees that all women will receive a free annual gynecological exam, which would include screenings for the leading killers of women – breast, cervical, ovarian and lung cancers; heart disease; and chronic illnesses such as diabetes.  It also requires insurance plans to cover a whole slew of comprehensive preventive care and screenings specific to women, with no copayments.”

Feingold’s official statement says that he cast his “nay” vote to assure fiscal responsibility.  According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the amendment will cost $980 million over the next 10 years.  Feingold has a history of voting for fiscal responsibility, Perdomo notes.  “I can’t rail against Feingold and say that he’s shown little fiscal restraint when voting for other measures.  He voted against the bailout giveaway to the banks.  In other words, I think Feingold’s votes are often sound.  But I do think he is wrong on this one, and I pick on him because he’s normally so level-headed.”

The other Democrat who voted against the Mikulski amendment was Ben Nelson (D-NE).  Republicans voting in favor were Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME) and David Vitter (R-LA).

Senator Mikulski herself sums it up the best:  “Simply being a woman is a pre-existing condition.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare | No Comments »

Obama on Healthcare: “Now is the Season for Action”

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

obama_congress_480President Barack Obama’s prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress made a strong case for including a public option,  along with a combination of choices designed to keep the insurance industry in check.  Recalling Theodore Roosevelt’s efforts to reform healthcare during the 1912 election, Obama said “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. Well, the time for bickering is over.  The time for games has passed,” Obama said. “Now is the season for action.”

That action includes a provision that protects uninsurable individuals from catastrophic healthcare expenses.  Another proposal is a series of pilot programs that will study how to reform the medical tort process.

Following is a brief summary of the Obama healthcare plan, which has a projected price tag of just under $1 trillion over 10 years (as a point of comparison, the U.S. spends half this in a single year on military spending):

  • Healthcare reform will provide more security and stability to Americans who currently have insurance, and it will provide coverage to those who don’t. It will slow the growth of healthcare costs.
  • Americans who already have health insurance through their employers, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, will see their coverage improve. The plan will make it illegal to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. Insurers will no longer be able to place a cap on the amount of coverage a patient receives. Additionally, insurance companies will be required to cover routine checkups and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies.
  • Coverage will be portable (if a person changes jobs or starts a small business) through the creation of an insurance exchange – a marketplace that will provide access to health insurance at competitive prices. The benefit to insurance companies is that the exchange lets them compete for millions of new customers.
  • For Americans who currently lack health insurance, Obama proposed a public option where government-subsidies would be available to make premiums affordable. Individuals would be required to obtain coverage, and their employers would have to contribute. Most Senate Republicans and some Blue Dog Democrats oppose this proposal, while Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that the House’s version of the healthcare bill will include a public option.

Obama’s flexibility may not please the more liberal members of Congress, but reflects the political reality that exists on Capitol Hill.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare | No Comments »