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Rally in the Governor’s Reception Room, PA State Capitol Building
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) is proud to join with the Pennsylvania Commission for Women and other women’s organizations on Thursday, February 2, 2006 at 10:30 a.m. in the Governor’s Reception Room of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building to show our support for the $1.7 million that Governor Edward G. Rendell has written into his 2006-07 budget to fund the Pennsylvania Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Screening Act. This act, introduced at the request of the PBCC, will make free mammograms available to eligible uninsured and underinsured women 40 to 49 through the PA Department of Health.
“I am proud that more than 4000 women, some uninsured and underinsured, now have access to information not only on treatment if they have been diagnosed, but on breast and cervical cancer screening to try to catch the disease before it has progressed too far for treatment to be effective,” said Governor Rendell. “For the first time ever women ages 40-49 in Pennsylvania will get that opportunity.”
“Last fall, we celebrated the passage of this act – the first step in providing eligible women with access to free mammograms. Now we join with the women of Pennsylvania in celebration as Governor Rendell takes the second step by setting aside funding for these free mammograms in his budget,” said Pat Halpin-Murphy, PBCC president and founder.
The bill creates a program within the PA Department of Health to make annual breast and cervical cancer screenings available to eligible 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 qualify for screenings under the legislation. The program would go into effect after July 1, 2006.
Governor Rendell was recognized in October by the PBCC as a Pink Ribbon Awardee at the Keystone Breast Cancer Conference for his commitment to women’s health issues, such as his support for the Pennsylvania Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Screening Act.
The PBCC, 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 improve the quality of breast cancer education, research and outreach throughout PA.
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