Dec. 8--The local medical community is expressing grave concerns about state cuts that will deny regular breast cancer screening to thousands of area women.
"Every Woman Counts," a program that pays the cost of mammograms for uninsured women not covered by Medi-Cal -- or those who have insurance that doesn't cover the cost of screenings -- will on Jan. 1 "temporarily cease new breast cancer screening enrollments" and stop covering mammograms for women age 40-49, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The cuts in services were made as a result of "unprecedented fiscal challenges," state health officer Dr. Mark Horton said in a statement.
Increasing demand for breast cancer screening services and declining state tobacco tax revenues have forced the cuts, Horton said. While the state has provided short-term funding increases for the program over the past few years, the increases have not been enough to keep pace with the growing demand for and cost of providing breast cancer screening services to women in the program.
Women ages 50 and older who are currently in the program will continue to be be eligible, while women 50 and older who are not in the program will likely be eligible when the suspension of enrollment ends July 2.
However, screenings for women ages 40-49 will no longer be covered, and that dramatic change alarms local medical professionals.
"This is very sad," said Dr. Girish Patel, founder and medical director of Truxtun Radiology in Bakersfield.
"I've been working 30 years to change women's lives," he said. "Of course it takes money to provide annual screenings, but it saves lives."
The cut in services comes -- coincidentally or not -- just weeks after a federal task force recommended that women younger than 50 do not need regular mammograms. The recommendation set off a storm of criticism that left federal officials back-pedaling on the issue.
Physicians with the task force told a House hearing last week that the decision to opt for regular screening should be made by individual women and their doctors. But the damage was done.
"I'm not sure if this decision by the state has anything to do with (the federal task force recommendations)," said Steve Schilling, chief executive of Clinica Sierra Vista. "But it seems awfully coincidental."
Schilling agrees with Patel that the cuts in services to women younger than 50 will result in more deaths and more suffering. Both men say early detection lessens the need for radical procedures such as mastectomies.
In 2009, Clinica served some 2,700 Kern County women enrolled in Every Woman Counts. Many more are served by other area providers.
In fiscal year 2008-2009, an estimated 311,000 women were enrolled in the program statewide at a cost of about $51.6 million, according to state health officials. This year, funding has actually gone up, but so apparently has cost and demand.
"This will be a very dangerous thing to do," Schilling said of the cuts. "I'm blown away by how stupid the state behaves sometimes."
Patel said early detection often means patients can be treated with a lumpectomy or other methods rather than a mastectomy, which can forever change the lives of women, their families and even affect the community as a whole, he said.
Maria Robinson, marketing director for the American Cancer Society in Bakersfield and the Central Valley, said when women call seeking low-cost or free breast cancer screenings, she often refers them to the Every Woman Counts program.
But that's going to change.
"After Jan. 1, we're going to have to rethink our approach," she said. "But I can tell you that the American Cancer Society strongly encourages women over 40 to get a mammography each and every year."
-----
To see more of The Bakersfield Californian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bakersfield.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Bakersfield Californian
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.