Breast Cancer Screening Rates Remain Stable, Health Reform Could Boost Access, CDC Reports

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 09 Jul 2010 - 4:00 PDT

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Rates for breast cancer screening have plateaued at just above 80% since 2000, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics released on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

CDC's "Vital Signs" report found that in 2008, 81.1% of women ages 50 through 74 underwent screening for breast cancer, compared with 81.5% in 2006. The national breast cancer screening rate has remained roughly stable since 2000, according to the Journal (Corbett Dooren, Wall Street Journal, 7/7).

The CDC report, which also included colon cancer screening rates, found that having health insurance "seemed to make significant differences in whether people got recommended screening," according to HealthLeaders Media. Nearly 84% of women with health insurance received breast cancer screenings, compared with 56.3% of uninsured women.

Women with less than a high school education and women in lower income brackets also reported lower screening rates than other women (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 7/6). CDC found that the highest screening rates generally occurred in the New England states (AP/Boston Globe, 7/7).

Colon cancer screening rates improved from 52% in 2002 to 63% in 2008 among people for whom the test is recommended, CDC reported (Fox, Reuters, 7/7).

CDC Director Thomas Frieden said he expects the new health reform law (PL 111-148) to improve screening rates for both diseases. The law will increase the number of people who have health insurance and require health plans to cover recommended cancer screenings (Wall Street Journal, 7/7). Frieden added that eliminating copayments for screening tests would raise the number of people who seek such services (Reuters, 7/7).

For 2010, experts project that 209,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed and that 40,000 deaths will occur from the disease, according to the AP/Boston Globe (AP/Boston Globe, 7/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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