Hi policy watchers,
Welcome to part 2 of our 4 part series analyzing the bills more in depth! Next we’ll delve into S.B. No. 1381, which addresses awareness of dense breast tissue and the need for supplemental breast cancer screening.
S.B. No. 1381, more commonly known as Henda’s Law, is named after Henda Salmeron. Henda Salmeron is a Dallas real estate agent, who is a breast cancer survivor and is tirelessly working to raise awareness about dense breast tissue and the need for further breast cancer screenings. According to news stories about Henda’s Law, Henda Salmeron did not find out that she had breast cancer until it had already advanced to Stage 2, despite having had a recent mammogram that did not pick up on the cancerous mass, because of dense breast tissue (Cutler, 2011).
What’s the extent of this problem? According to a recent article, dense breast tissue affects more than 50% of women (Chilkov, 2011). Among that 50%, mammograms fail to detect the early stages of breast cancer 75-80% of the time (Chilkov)! Yikes! This is even more true for women who are postmenopausal and on hormone replacement therapy. If someone is on hormone replacement therapy, odds are, she has dense breast tissue, meaning that it is even more likely that the early stages of breast cancer will go undetected (Chilkov).
So tell me, why are we not more worried about this? Why have I never heard about it before? As health care stands currently, health care providers “do not yet regularly use a woman’s breast density to assess her breast cancer risk. This is mainly due to the lack of an agreed-upon standard for assessing breast density” (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as cited in Salmeron, Dense Breast Tissue, 2011). Henda’s Law would raise awareness of dense breast tissue and the risk it entails, and has the support of the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Cutler, 2011).
To put this all in perspective, watch this video that Henda Salmeron put together:
So we’ve established that this is a big issue and that awareness needs to be raised. That’s all fine and dandy, but where does awareness end and action begin? Hypothetically, the bill doesn’t cost any money and it raises awareness. The problem is that further screenings, which currently include MRIs and sonograms, are usually not covered by most insurance plans (Salmeron, D.E.N.S.E., 2011). The hope is that this law will push insurance companies to cover alternative methods of screening for breast cancer (Tongish, 2010). Insurance companies may choose to lobby against this bill for that reason, but a similar law has passed in Connecticut and comparable bills are being pushed for in other states around the country (Tongish). Until then though, MRIs can cost up to $3,500 (Compare MRI Cost, n.d.) and sonograms can cost up to $1,000 (Ultrasound Costs and Pricing Information, n.d.). That might not break the bank for a successful high-end realtor, but that is far out of reach for many Americans, and especially those who are most vulnerable. Our concern is not so much with the bill itself, but rather with what happens with the bill after it is passed.
Henda’s Law is an important and necessary piece of legislation that will garner little conflict among the general public. Threats to the bill come from insurance companies who fear what new services will need to be provided as a response. When all is said and done though, we wonder how quickly awareness will lead to action. Will insurance companies start providing alternative methods of breast cancer screening? Will we provide these same services to our more vulnerable populations? Will alternative methods of screening be covered by Medicaid and Medicare? As it stands right now, we only foresee it really impacting middle and upper class populations. With this knowledge, we need to be sure that it does not stop there.
As you can see, Henda’s Law is an intriguing piece of legislation, but it is incomplete and needs to be viewed as a starting point for more to come. I hope this has raised YOUR awareness of dense breast tissue, and that in that sense, the bill is already fulfilling its goal.
Until next time…
TK Out!
References
Chilkov, N. (2011, January 11). Breast Cancer Risk: A Screening 3 Times Better Than Mammograms . HuffPost Health. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nalini-chilkov/breast-cancer-risk_b_806269.html
Compare MRI Cost. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://www.comparemricost.com/
Cutler, M. (2011, April 10). Breast Cancer Bill May Become Law. KDFW FOX4 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved from http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/Dallas-Woman%E2%80%99s-Breast-Cancer-Bill-May-Become-Law
Salmeron, H. (2011). D.E.N.S.E. In Dense Breast Tissue: You NEED To Know! Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://densebreasttissue.net/d-e-n-s-e/
Salmeron, H. (2011). Dense Breast Tissue. In Dense Breast Tissue: You NEED To Know! Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://densebreasttissue.net/ dense-breast-tissue/
Tongish, D. (2010, September 14). Proposal would require Texas insurance companies pay for better breast cancer screening. The 33-KDAF-TV. Retrieved from http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-dallas-lawmaker-calls-for-mandatory-breast-cancer-screening-story,0,3973680.story
Ultrasound Costs and Pricing Information. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://www.compareultrasoundcost.com/
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