Komen Advocacy Alliance thanks Congress for 6-month extension of enhanced federal funding for Medicaid

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Advocacy Alliance thanked Congress and the Administration for a six-month extension of enhanced federal funding for Medicaid, which was signed into law Tuesday night. The additional federal aid will help stave off potential cuts to programs that provide breast cancer screening and treatment for underserved women.

“This additional federal support for state budgets is critical for our efforts to protect these programs, which are supposed to protect underserved women in difficult times like these.”

"Komen advocates have been fighting tirelessly across the country to protect vital state breast cancer screening and treatment programs from cuts," said Karen Webster, chair of the Komen Advocacy Alliance. "This additional federal support for state budgets is critical for our efforts to protect these programs, which are supposed to protect underserved women in difficult times like these."

Komen advocates sent thousands of letters to Congress over the past several days urging passage of the additional funding, and joined other patient advocate organizations in calling for federal and state law makers to shield vital safety-net programs from the budget axe.

Many states have already been forced to cut safety-net programs to help balance their strapped budgets. Had Congress not acted, some would have had to make deeper cuts and others would have had to follow suit.

• South Carolina's Best Chance Network has lost $2 million in state funding, resulting in thousands of women that will not be able to receive screening services.
• In California, the Every Woman Counts program has been closed for seven months, denying life-saving breast cancer screening and diagnostic services to nearly 300,000 California women.
• According to the National Conference of State Legislators, 30 states proposed or approved state budgets for FY2011 that assume Congress would approve a six-month Medicaid enhancement.

Now that federal aid is on the way, the Komen Advocacy Alliance urges state leaders to protect early detection programs for underserved women. Without access to these services, low-income, uninsured and underinsured women will have nowhere else to go for potentially life-saving cancer screenings like mammograms and Pap smears. The consequences of reduced access could be tragic. Later diagnoses lead to cancers that are more advanced and more difficult to treat, which reduces women's chances of survival and increases the costs on federal and state budgets down the road.

"We understand the importance of controlling government spending — and we must make sure we spend our money wisely," said Webster. "Yet we cannot balance the budget on the backs of some of the neediest women in the country. Women's lives are literally at stake."