ALBANY, N.Y. — As the economy falters and more people go without health insurance, low-income women in at least 20 states, including Colorado, are being turned away or put on long waiting lists for free cancer screenings, according to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network.
In the unofficial survey of programs for July 2008 through April 2009, the organization found that state budget strains are forcing some programs to reject people who would otherwise qualify for free mammograms and Pap smears. Just how many are turned away isn’t known; in some cases, the women are screened through other programs or referred to different providers.
“I cried, and I panicked,” said Erin LaBarge, 47.
This would have been her third straight year receiving a free mammogram through the screening program in St. Lawrence County. But the Norwood, N.Y., resident was told she couldn’t get her free mammogram this year because there isn’t enough money and she is not old enough.
New York used to screen women of all ages, but this year the budget crunch has forced them to focus on those considered at highest risk and exclude women under 50.
“I already know there are women who are dying whose lives we could have saved with mammography and other detections,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the society.
In New York, the Cancer Society says providers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and western Queens, and in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, project they will perform nearly 15,000 fewer free mammograms for the fiscal year ending April 2010, compared with the previous year.
The Cancer Society has no way to count how many women are being turned away, and many providers don’t keep track of how many are denied screening or whether those women find another alternative.
The cost of screening varies, but the average mammogram is about $100, while a Pap screen can range between $75 and $200, according to the society.
Each state handles free screenings differently. Some use state funds to supplement federal funding, while others get private assistance from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and other groups.
At least 14 states cut budgets for free cancer screenings this year: Colorado, Montana, Illinois, Alabama, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Carolina, Utah, Missouri, Washington, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.
Some states that have cut their budgets have found ways to maintain services; some states that haven’t reduced their budgets still find themselves having to turn women away because they don’t have enough funding.
• In 2009, the American Cancer Society estimates, 34,600 women between ages 40 and 49 will be found to have breast cancer nationwide; in that age group, 4,300 breast-cancer deaths are projected this year.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that since 1991, the free screening program has provided more than 8 million exams to more than 3.4 million women, detecting more than 39,000 breast cancers, 2,400 invasive cervical cancers and 126,000 pre-malignant cervical lesions.
• Women have a 98 percent survival rate when breast cancer is caught early, during stage I, the Cancer Society says. That shrinks to about 84 percent during stages II and III, and just 27 percent at stage IV — when cancer has reached its most advanced point.
