[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20424]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        NATIONAL MAMMOGRAPHY DAY

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, we are now in the midst of National Breast 
Cancer Awareness Month, and the air has been filled with new and 
sometimes confusing statistics, new treatment, new research advances, 
and ever-present warnings about the seriousness of this dreaded 
disease.
  One aspect of this issue that is close to my heart is National 
Mammography Day--a day to increase awareness of how routine periodic 
mammography and early diagnosis of breast cancer are responsible for 
huge increases in the numbers of long-term survivors of this disease.
  I note parenthetically that my wife started an organization in my 
State to increase awareness--it is named after her, not me--called the 
Biden Breast Health Initiative, where she and her group of advisers 
bring oncology nurses and oncologists into the local high schools 
throughout the State to make young women in high school aware of breast 
health examinations and self-examination because the key to survival is 
early detection.
  Breast cancer is now an illness not to be feared as a death sentence 
but to be conquered commonly and routinely. This year, National 
Mammography Day, which I sponsored years ago, will occur on Friday, 
October 20. As in previous years, the Senate has adopted a resolution 
that I introduced affirming this designation.
  This year's National Mammography Day will see the beginning of a 
tremendous new advance in early detection of breast cancer--digital 
mammography. This new technique offers many advantages over standard 
film-based mammography. From the patient's point of view, the usual 40-
minute examination time can be cut in half, and the exposure to 
radiation can be reduced in almost all instances.
  For many women, the mammogram images with digital technology are 
considerably more precise. The digital technology makes it possible for 
the radiologist to manipulate the images and to zoom in on questionable 
areas, thus providing more accurate diagnosis in reducing the need for 
repeat examinations.
  The digital technology does away with the cost and the disposal 
problems as well of x-ray film.
  In addition, the retrieval of prior film for comparison with current 
images no longer require the time-consuming manual search through an x-
ray room.
  Finally, by switching to the digital approach, this new technique 
allows all future advances in digital computer technology to be applied 
directly to saving women from breast cancer.
  It is impossible, in my view, to overstate the importance of this 
digital technique's adaptability to new technological advances. Those 
of us old enough to remember how the first personal computers were a 
huge advance over the slide rule are also aware of how the incredible 
subsequent advances in computer technology meant that those first PCs 
were now useful only as doorstops. I look forward to a similarly rapid 
advance in the new digital technology as it moves into the field of 
breast cancer diagnosis.
  Digital mammography is a revolutionary technology that must be 
offered to seniors and disabled who obtain their medical care through 
Medicare. And it should be done as soon as possible. I strongly 
encourage the Health Care Financing Administration to evaluate this 
product expeditiously and to set appropriate payment rates under the 
Medicare program.
  What I don't want to see happen--I realize this may seem somewhat 
premature--is that digital mammography is only available for those who 
are able to pay, while all those on Medicare or Medicaid, because the 
reimbursement cost is not sufficient to cover a digital mammography, 
will have to settle for what will prove to be an inferior test. The 
lives of many women who have yet to discover they have breast cancer 
may hang in the balance.
  Therefore, I look forward to HCFA establishing a reasonable price at 
which reimbursement can be made under Medicare for those women on 
Medicare or Medicaid who seek a breast examination by use of digital 
mammography, the new emerging science, rather than one that is film 
based.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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