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Bill Moves to the Governor’s Desk for His Signature
EPHRATA, Pa. – The Pennsylvania legislature voted unanimously to provide free mammograms for uninsured and underinsured women 40 to 49. The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition worked with bill sponsor, Representative George Kenney, Chairman of the Health & Human Services Committee, on this legislation to coincide with the National Institute of Health recommendations that annual mammograms begin at age 40.
“I am thrilled that Pennsylvania’s legislators passed this important bill. Their vote enables more women to take charge of their health regardless of their insurance status, which can only save more lives,” said PBCC President & Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy. “All of the friends of the PBCC who contacted their legislators and added their voices to the hundreds who urged quick action on this bill share a part of this important legislative victory. Advocacy works.”
The bill creates a program within the PA Department of Health to make annual breast and cervical cancer screenings available to underinsured and uninsured women 40 to 49, complementing the current program available for women 50 to 64. Women whose family income does not exceed 250% of the Federal poverty level with no other access to health insurance coverage are eligible for screening under the legislation. The program would go into effect after July 1, 2006.
Governor Edward G. Rendell has indicated his intent to sign this legislation as soon as it reaches his desk.
The PBCC extends our thanks to Representative Kenney and Senator Jake Corman, Chairman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee for their leadership in moving the bill through their committees, and also to Speaker of the House John Perzel and Senator David Brightbill for promptly calling the bill up for vote in their respective chambers.
The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, founded in 1993, is a non-profit organization and the only statewide grassroots organization that speaks to and for breast cancer survivors. This year, more than 12,000 Pennsylvania women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 2,300 will lose their lives to the disease. The PBCC’s mission is to help find a cure for breast cancer and to improve the quality of breast cancer education, research and outreach in the state. |
