Recommendations of the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) that could significantly restrict access to mammograms would be postponed for two years under bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) on Friday.
The Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings (PALS) Act, which Brooks introduced with U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), would address a recent USPSTF finding that there was a “moderate certainty” that annual mammograms benefit women aged 40-49. Screenings would be conducted selectively for women in that age group under proposed USPSTF recommendations.
“Taking preventative measures, such as having mammogram screenings, are key components to combating a disease that takes the lives of too many Hoosiers and Americans,” Brooks said. “Women of all ages are affected by breast cancer and in many cases, mammograms catch the presence and spread of cancer cells at an early enough stage for the disease to be treated.”
USPSTF also proposed recommendations that women aged 50 to 74 receive mammograms every other year.
“The USPSTF recommendations planned to go into effect in 2018, put women, especially young women, at risk for losing insurance coverage for essential mammogram screenings that could save their life,” Brooks continued. “Women of all ages should be able to access mammograms when they need them, rather than only at an age or circumstance the USPSTF believes is appropriate.”
The National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 40,000 women in 2017 will die of breast cancer, and 10 percent of new breast cancer cases are found in women younger than 45, Wasserman Schultz noted.
“Despite that, the USPSTF guidelines that would go into effect in 2018 would discourage women from getting potentially life-saving mammograms, and put them at potential risk of losing insurance for mammography,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The legislation to extend the moratorium on the mammogram guidelines would also allow Congress to review concerns about the USPSTF and the impact its recommendations would have on women being screened for cancer.
The bill would also ensure that women veterans treated in the Veterans Health Administration do not face the same obstacles to getting the care they and their health care providers deem necessary, Wasserman Schultz added.