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Op-Ed: Free
treatment for Breast Cancer patients who are
uninsured
AMBLER, Pa., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- The following is an op-ed by Pat Halpin-Murphy,
President and Founder of the Pennsylvania
Breast Cancer Coalition:
As if it isn't bad enough
to be diagnosed with breast cancer -- in
Gina C.'s case, twice -- imagine being
diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast
cancer with no medical insurance to cover
costly medical treatment.
That's precisely what
happened to Gina, a former corporate
executive who is in remission today, thanks
to the free treatment she received through
the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention
and Treatment Program in Pennsylvania.
BCCPT, which provides free
treatment to uninsured Pennsylvania women,
is just one of the many programs that have
been won by cancer survivors, their families
and a community of caring individuals and
groups trying to end the breast cancer
epidemic through education, outreach and
advocacy.
As we mark Breast Cancer
Awareness Month this October, it's a good
time to remind women of the large group of
courageous women and men who are committed
to finding a cure and providing treatment
for those in need.
Gina is among those
working to make sure that other women won't
slip between the cracks of care and medical
coverage, as she nearly did herself.
In 1998, while she was
caring for her husband who was terminally
ill with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, she was
diagnosed with breast cancer. As a corporate
vice president, her insurance was excellent
and covered both their care. After her
husband's death and several years of living
cancer free, Gina opened a women's health
club, which was doing wonderfully until her
breast cancer returned and spread.
Due to treatment, Gina's
business closed after she underwent a double
mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and many
months of chemotherapy. She held onto her
insurance for a year, but her insurance
company refused to renew her policy.
At that point, she had two
choices. She could commit insurance fraud to
obtain insurance, or she could run up
medical bills that she knew she would never
pay.
No one at her insurance
company or at her hospital told her she was
eligible for the free prevention and
treatment program, fought for by the
Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and
sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of
Health's Healthy Woman Program.
With three weeks of
medical coverage left, Gina was in despair.
She had already sold the home she and her
husband had built and moved into a South
Philadelphia row home. Her bank accounts
were nearly exhausted and even if she cashed
out her retirement account, it would not
have covered her $10,000 per month chemo
bill for long.
She learned about the
Breast and Cervical Cancer Program when her
desperation led her to make tearful calls to
the Pennsylvania Health Law Project and the
Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.
How many other women, she
often wonders, learn of the program's free
cancer treatment after it is too late?
Advocacy has changed the
battleground for breast cancer patients in
Pennsylvania. Groups like ours -- of which
there are many -- have given breast cancer
patients a voice that has resulted in:
-- Mandatory insurance
coverage for breast reconstruction
-- Free mammograms for
uninsured and underinsured women starting at
age 40
-- A state income tax
check-off that has raised $2 million for
breast cancer research
-- 67 Women - 67
Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in
Pennsylvania: a traveling exhibition that
celebrates the life, courage, hope and
dignity of women and families who have
battled breast cancer
-- Friends Like Me,
our survivor support program
-- Conferences,
newsletters and other support and education
efforts
-- Pink ribbon license
plates that spread cancer awareness
-- Paint Pennsylvania
Pink, a web-based campaign that allows
donors to use their contributions to paint
PA pink on the pink map at
http://pabreastcancer.org/ppp/.
Ultimately, the only way
we will win the battle against breast cancer
is to continue our education, outreach and
advocacy for better insurance coverage,
better medical treatment, more patient
support and finally a cure. This is a battle
no one should fight alone.
Women have many places to
turn and friends who are willing to help. I
urge them to contact us at the Pennsylvania
Breast Cancer Coalition at 1-800-377-8828 or
http://www.pabreastcancer.org and
the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention
and Treatment Program at 1-800-215-7494 to
learn more or to join the fight. We can
never have too many people waging war
against breast cancer.
Pat Halpin-Murphy is
President and Founder of the Pennsylvania
Breast Cancer Coalition. She is also a
long-time breast cancer survivor.
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