CDC-Funded Project Offers Free Colonoscopies To Uninsured Residents In Five States

Main Category: Colorectal Cancer
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 28 Jul 2006 - 20:00 PDT

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In five states, a CDC-funded project will offer colorectal cancer screenings at no cost for uninsured U.S. residents over age 50, the AP/Newark Star-Ledger reports. Because of cost, time, intense preparation and discomfort of colorectal screenings, nearly 42 million U.S. residents over 50 are not getting tested for colorectal cancer, the nation's second-leading cancer killer. Colonoscopies are the most costly screening option and require a full day at the doctor's office coupled with intense preparation, but they are required only once every 10 years. An in-home fecal occult blood test is a simpler and cheaper screening option that is conducted annually. Bruce Jenkins of the Missouri health department's "Screening for Life" program said, "It's a part of the body [people] don't want anybody to mess with." In addition to the "yuck factor" associated with colorectal screening, many people do not get tested because of cost, the AP/Star-Ledger reports. The CDC program, which could be expanded nationwide, is the first major federal effort to target the uninsured for colorectal screening. Participants in two locations will receive colonoscopies, while those in the three other locations will receive at-home fecal tests. According to CDC, nearly 60% of the more than 55,000 projected deaths from the disease this year could have been prevented through regular screenings. Colorectal screenings can detect polyps that can take up to a decade to become cancerous. If the polyps are found and removed in time, cancer can be avoided altogether. Daniel Blumenthal, a doctor at Atlanta's Morehouse School of Medicine, is researching ways to improve screening rates among black U.S. residents, who are at especially high risk for the disease. "We have to make an impact somewhere outside of the doctor office," Blumenthal said (Neergaard, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 7/25).

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