Loophole Allows States To Avoid Covering Breast, Cervical Cancer Treatments For Some Uninsured Women, Wall Street Journal Reports

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine;  Women's Health / Gynecology;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 17 Sep 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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A legal loophole in the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act allows states to not cover some uninsured women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer in their Medicaid programs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the law, enacted in 2000, uninsured women younger than age 65 diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer can have their treatments covered by Medicaid, even if they are not otherwise eligible for coverage.

According to the Journal, the law allows states to choose to cover only women diagnosed at clinics that receive funding from a federal cancer-detection program. Twenty-one states do not cover treatment costs for women diagnosed at facilities that do not participate in the federal cancer-detection program, and Texas only began providing coverage for women diagnosed at any health provider on Sept. 1. According to the Journal, "thousands" of women annually "get caught" in the loophole, which "can turn the quest for care into a daunting obstacle course."

The Journal profiled the search for coverage of Shirley Loewe, who in June 2003 was diagnosed with breast cancer at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, Texas (Carreyrou, Wall Street Journal, 9/13).

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