Photo: O, The Oprah Magazine
Even as more and more black women are dying needlessly from breast cancer, funding for the free mammograms that low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women count on is drying up. The CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which is responsible for providing significant support for these services, will lose an estimated $38 million next year—and many states are cutting back on how much money they pitch in to match the CDC's contribution. "Lower funding has been justified because under the Affordable Care Act, routine mammograms are covered," says Judith Salerno, MD, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen. "But when a woman feels a suspicious lump and is sent by her doctor for a diagnostic mammogram, that's no longer considered 'routine'—and it's no longer free. That's a big problem." To urge your representative to increase vital funding, visit ww5.komen.org/take-action.aspx.
From the October 2015 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
