Breast Cancer Activists Unveil New Breast Cancer Bill of Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- With about 30 days to go until election day, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Advocacy Alliance today challenged candidates all across the country to promise to fight for the breast cancer rights of their constituents if elected. In issuing the challenge, the nation’s leading network of breast cancer survivors and activists unveiled a new Breast Cancer Bill of Rights that they promise to fight for. The Breast Cancer Bill of Rights can be found online at KomenAdvocacy.org.
“It’s not acceptable when any woman is denied screening that may save her life, or has to worry about anything other than survival,” said Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. “We will not stop fighting until these rights are extended to all women and are enshrined in law. That’s our promise. Now, for those who want to represent us, we want to know: What will you promise?”
While patient protections included in this year’s health reform law made a significant step in the right direction, with today’s unveiling the Komen Advocacy Alliance is putting the nation’s leaders on notice that it was just a first step and not the end of the road.
The Breast Cancer Bill of Rights presents a clear and easily understood agenda, and will inform the organization’s future advocacy efforts. For example, Komen’s Breast Cancer Bill of Rights declares that every woman has a right to access breast cancer screening tools that may save her life. Thanks to the new health care reform law, women age 40 and older who are enrolled in either Medicare or health plans issued after September 23, 2010, have access to an annual screening mammogram — with no additional cost for the patient. Yet there is still much work to do.
- This benefit is not guaranteed to women in health plans established prior to September 23.
- For at least the next several years, underserved women will continue to rely on a patchwork of state-based safety net programs that are threatened by budget cuts due to the struggling economy.
- And while mammography is currently the best screening tool currently available, it is far from perfect and it is not effective for some women, particularly those with dense breasts. As such, Komen will continue to press for the development of better technologies and for access to additional screening tools as needed.
“We must improve access to quality screening and treatment, and secure the basic right of breast cancer patients and survivors to own affordable health insurance,” said Brinker. “We promise to keep pushing until the gaps in health care are filled once and for all.”
Thirty years ago, Komen for the Cure’s founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. The Breast Cancer Bill of Rights is the next step in extending that promise to all women.
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Advocacy Alliance (KAA) is the nonpartisan voice for over 2.5 million breast cancer survivors and the people who love them. Our mission is to translate the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® promise to end breast cancer forever into action at all levels of government to discover and deliver the cures.
CONTACT:
Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Advocacy Alliance
Sean Tuffnell, 972-701-2111
[email protected]
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