[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20627]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER TREATMENT ACT

  Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I would like to remind the Senate that 
October is not only Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but also the first 
anniversary of the enactment of the Breast and Cervical Cancer 
Treatment Act. As we take time this month to remember all those who've 
lost their lives to this tragic disease, we must also celebrate the 
great strides we've made in diagnosing and treating breast cancer in 
women from all walks of life.
  As many of us remember, the Centers for Disease Control has long 
operated a program to provide low-income uninsured women with coverage 
for cancer screening. Since its creation in 1990, the CDC's Breast and 
Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program has proved a great success, 
providing over one million mammograms to women 40 years or older 
through March 1999. Of these, over 77,000 were found to be abnormal and 
5,830 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed. Additionally, through 
March 1997, 300 cases of invasive cervical cancer were discovered in 
over 700,000 pap tests.
  Despite this high rate of success, the Early Detection Program 
contained a fatal flaw. The CDC program provided no treatment options 
for low-income, uninsured women who tested positive for breast or 
cervical cancer. Instead of receiving the help they needed, the women 
diagnosed with cancer under this program were left to find treatment 
for themselves. Unfortunately, early detection is pointless unless it 
is followed by immediate and vigorous treatment.
  To address this shortcoming, I joined with Senators Barbara Mikulski, 
Olympia Snowe, and others to sponsor legislation to allow individual 
states the option of providing treatment through their state Medicaid 
programs. As enacted, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act 
provides enhanced federal matching funds to states that choose to 
operate a treatment plan for women diagnosed under the CDC program. 
Instead of imposing a new federal mandate, the bill offered positive 
incentives and tangible funding options to those states whose 
populations are most in need.
  Today, on the 1-year anniversary of the enactment of this momentous 
legislation, I'm proud to tell you that the Act has been a great 
success. Over the course of the past year, thirty-three states have 
already begun using the enhanced federal matching funds to provide 
treatment to women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through the 
CDC screening program. Women across America are already benefiting from 
treatment program in these thirty-three states.
  I am especially proud to note that Rhode Island was one of the first 
to join. In fact, Governor Lincoln Almond, his wife Marilyn, and the 
Director of Rhode Island's Human Services Department, Christine 
Ferguson, were strong and tireless proponents of the Breast and 
Cervical Cancer Treatment Act. By leading the charge for this bill at 
the state level, the Governor and his Human Services Director 
highlighted once again why Rhode Island has one of the best health-care 
systems in the country.

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