Urges 119th Congress to Act Quickly on Critical Legislation that Languished in December
WASHINGTON, DC – Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, launched its 2025-2026 policy priorities with a focus on achieving a more equitable health care system – by advancing state and federal legislation that allows for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer by removing financial and administrative barriers to timely, high-quality breast care.
Komen is calling on the 119th Congress to quickly reintroduce and pass the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act, legislation that will make critical breast health services available to our most vulnerable and often overlooked populations. Although it gained strong, bipartisan support, the bill did not pass before the 118th Congress adjourned.
“With this new Congress, we urge lawmakers to prioritize the reintroduction and passage of legislation that will ensure lives are not lost to cancers simply because someone couldn’t access the health services they require,” said Molly Guthrie, VP of Policy & Advocacy and the Center of Public Policy, at Susan G. Komen. “Enacting the SCREENS for Cancer Act will allow millions of low income, uninsured or underinsured individuals access to the breast cancer screening, diagnostic tests and treatment they need to survive.”
The SCREENS for Cancer Act reauthorizes the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which has served more than 6.4 million individuals across the country and provided more than 16.5 million breast and cervical cancer screening examinations. Nearly 80,000 invasive breast cancers have been detected through NBCCEDP-funded programs since the program’s inception in 1991.
In 2025, it is expected that more than 310,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die from it. Experts suggest at least one-third of U.S. breast cancer deaths could be prevented with universal access to existing treatments.
Komen is also asking Congress to prioritize legislation that eliminates cost sharing for diagnostic and supplemental breast imaging, accelerates cancer research, protects comprehensive health care coverage and removes financial and systemic barriers that patients experience in obtaining their care.
“Komen’s Center for Public Policy hopes lawmakers will seize this immediate opportunity to pass legislation that has languished and turn its attention to additional policies that that could be the difference between life and death for too many people,” Guthrie added.
Komen will also be working alongside lawmakers in state legislatures to bring the long-lasting change that’s needed to address barriers in accessing and affording health care. In 2024, Komen’s Center for Public Policy introduced 41 bills in 34 states, 16 of which were signed into law. Komen will focus on passing legislation to enable more affordable breast imaging, remove barriers to treatment for those living with metastatic disease and expand access to genetic testing to help inform an individual’s risk of breast cancer.
“Our progress in saving lives from breast cancer is contingent upon breast health services being available and affordable to everyone,” Guthrie said.
