At the White House health care summit on Thursday, breast cancer patients were repeatedly cited as examples of why we need health care reform. Many breast cancer patients are poorly served by our current patchwork system of care. While we debate health care, the fiscal crises is forcing state officials to cut programs that provide life-saving breast cancer screening and treatment.
It is creating a hidden health disaster because these cuts in breast cancer programs can cause irreparable, indefensible — and avoidable — harm.
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States now face a combined budget gap of more than $350 billion for the rest of 2010 and 2011. Already, 29 states have made cuts that restrict eligibility for health insurance programs or access to services, leaving millions of women without access to cancer screening.
Meanwhile, serious cuts in state breast cancer programs have been proposed across the country. In Ohio, for example, the mammogram program was cut from $2.5 million for 2008-2009 to $700,000 for 2009-10. At least 17,000 women were treated last year, but only 14,000 are expected to receive care this year. Other states have similar cuts.
The most catastrophic cuts are in California, which faces a projected deficit of $20 billion over the next 18 months. In December, the state Department of Public Health said its breast and cervical cancer early detection program, Every Woman Counts, would permanently shut its doors to women in their 40s, and not accept any new patients of any age until July.
Women who rely on this program have low incomes, do not qualify for the state Medicaid program and are uninsured or underinsured.
So these cuts may cost lives without saving much money. California’s reductions of about $10 million, for example, equal less than one half of one percent of the state’s deficit.
Last year, an estimated 192,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in women nationwide, and more than 40,000 women died from it. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women, and nearly one in eight women is diagnosed with it in their lifetime.
With an aging population – and without early detection and treatment – the expenses of caring for women with breast cancer will grow, further increasing Medicare costs and state and federal budget deficits. But when detected early, before it spreads, the 5-year relative survival rate is 98%, compared to only 23% after the cancer has spread.
That’s why it is important that breast cancer advocates oppose these cuts that make no sense in human or fiscal terms. Last year, our affiliates were successful in stopping millions of dollars in proposed cuts in South Carolina, Ohio, California (saving $2 million of a proposed $4 million cut) and Missouri. In 2008, they restored proposed cuts to screening programs in Alabama, California and Minnesota.
It is true that some private organizations, like the one I head, are providing millions of dollars worth of screening services each year. But the government needs to do its fair share.
Health care advocates need to take action in California as well as nationally. Gov. Schwarzenegger has signaled millions more dollars in additional cuts to the California program, unless Congress helps California balance its budget. Without this money, the state’s early detection program might be eliminated – so the largest state would be the first to opt out of a service that Medicaid provides low-income women.
This is one reason we need health care reform now — to ensure that all women have access to the screening and treatment that saves lives.
Amb. Nancy G. Brinker is CEO and founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which promotes breast cancer research and awareness.