Urges U.S. Senate and House to Take Quick Action So Millions Can Get The Care They Need
WASHINGTON – Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, today commended members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) for passing the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act, an important step in the legislation becoming law. The full U.S. Senate and House will need to approve the legislation and President Joe Biden will need to sign it before it can become law.
The SCREENS for Cancer Act reauthorizes a critical program — the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) — that provides access to breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services for low-income, uninsured or underinsured people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 2 U.S. territories, 5 U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands, and 13 tribes or tribal organizations.
Unfortunately, widespread racial health disparities persist in breast cancer, and NBCCEDP helps to address the barriers that lead to poor outcomes.
The bicameral, bipartisan legislation is led by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representatives Jospeh Morelle (D-NY-25) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01).
Since its founding in 1991, NBCCEDP-funded programs have served more than 6.2 million individuals across the country and provided more than 12.1 million breast and cervical cancer screening examinations.
“We cannot realize breast health equity without ensuring that timely screening and diagnostic services are available to all. These services are key to finding breast cancer early when more treatment options are available and patient outcomes are generally better, but too many barriers still prevent individuals from accessing routine breast care,” said Victoria Smart, SVP of Mission at Susan G. Komen. “Komen is grateful the Senate HELP Committee has advanced the SCREENS for Cancer Act to expand the reach of the NBCCEDP by making screening and diagnostic services available to the people who need them, when they need them.”
The NBCCEDP, a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments, also provides public education, outreach, patient navigation and care coordination to increase breast and cervical cancer screening rates and reach underserved, vulnerable populations. The SCREENS for Cancer Act, once passed, will preserve access to this vital public health infrastructure and allow greater flexibility to NBCCEDP grantees, allowing for more emphasis on implementing innovative, evidence-based interventions and aggressive outreach through media, peer educators and patient navigators.
“It has been over a decade since Congress last revisited the underlying statute for NBCCEDP,” Smart said. “Komen is proud to partner with distinguished Congressional champions to recommit to early detection and diagnosis and modernize a program with a long legacy of saving lives. We look forward to building on this momentum and seeing the SCREENS for Cancer Act passed by this Congress.”
