Komen Affiliates Urge State Leaders to Spare Neediest Women from Budget Cuts

CALIFORNIA BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS AND ADVOCATES
CALL ON STATE TO NIX SCREENING CUTS

Komen Affiliates Urge State Leaders to Spare Neediest Women from Budget Cuts

 Breast cancer survivors and advocates from all seven California Affiliates of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® signaled their alarm today at the recently announced cuts to California’s Every Woman Counts program, which would effectively keep the doors shut to breast cancer screening services for 1.2 million low-income and uninsured women until further notice. The California Department of Health Care Services announced that there will be no new breast cancer screening enrollments into the program until further notice. This restriction has been in effect since January 1, 2010. 

The state also announced that only women age 50 and above who were enrolled in the program prior to January 1, 2010, will be eligible to continue receiving breast cancer screening services – significantly reducing the number of women in the state that will have access to affordable breast cancer screenings.

“We fully understand the tough economic situation our elected leaders face and the difficult choices they must make.  Yet balancing the budget on the backs of our state’s neediest women is a mistake.  We should not deny women who have very few options and limited resources access to screening and treatment services that may save their life,” said Sharon Johnson, Executive Director of the Central Valley Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Every Women Counts (EWC) is a joint program by the state Department of Public Health and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.  Komen Affiliates noted that while 1.2 million women are eligible for EWC, the program only screens about 270,000 women a year, 77,000 of whom are under age 50. 

The recent announcement about no new enrollments to EWC come on the heels of an internal audit conducted by CDPH and released on May 25, 2010 that found internal management and governance over the EWC Program is fragmented and decentralized, severely impairing CDPH’s ability to administer and make mission-critical changes needed to deliver life-saving screening for underserved women in California.  

Early detection of breast cancer is a key to surviving the disease.  When breast cancer is detected early, the 5-year relative survival rate is 98 percent, but declines to 84 percent for regional disease and 23 percent when cancer has metastasized or spread to other parts of the body.  Unfortunately, women with low incomes who are uninsured or underinsured — like those eligible for Every Women Counts — are more likely to skip potentially life-saving cancer screenings, which leads to later diagnoses, larger tumors and lower survival rates. 

In California alone, 21,700 women will have been diagnosed with breast cancer this year and more than 4,000 will have lost their battle with the disease. 

“We know the need will continue regardless of the ability of the state to meet it.  Komen Affiliates will continue to do our part to meet the needs of underserved women; yet, these resources are extremely limited and not available in all areas.  We cannot do this alone,” said Johnson.   “Komen for the Cure and its Affiliates have long been concerned that one-third of women in the U.S. today — some 23 million — are already not receiving regular recommended screenings due to lack of access, education or awareness.  Unfortunately, the decision to restrict access to the Every Woman Counts program makes the problem even worse.”