Senators propose bill allocating $235M annually toward bolstering breast and other cancer screenings
Bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate recently proposed legislation that would allocate $235 million annually toward bolstering breast and cervical cancer screenings.
Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have reintroduced the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act. The measure would relaunch the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which saw its funding eliminated under recent 2026 budget proposals.
First founded in 1991, the Early Detection Program provides breast and cervical cancer screening services for women who are low-income, uninsured or underinsured and who do not qualify for Medicaid. The program has provided over 16.5 million breast and cervical screening exams since its inception, resulting in the diagnosis of almost 80,000 invasive breast cancer cases.
“Nearly every American’s life has been touched by a devastating cancer diagnosis, and early detection is one of the best tools we have to save lives,” Baldwin said in a statement May 22. “No Wisconsinite should miss regular screenings because of cost.”
The Early Detection Program is a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state departments of health. Along with screenings, it provides public education, outreach, patient navigation, and care coordination services to increase imaging rates among the underserved. This would mark the first reauthorization of the Early Detection Program in over a decade, the two senators noted, helping to ensure outreach to more eligible women. Altogether, the SCREENS for Cancer Act would authorize $235 million per year in spending through 2030.
Several organizations have endorsed the legislation, among them, the Society of Breast Imaging, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer, and Susan G. Komen. The latter—a Dallas-based nonprofit named after a 36-year-old who died of the disease in 1980—said, without this law change, many will likely forgo imaging. This could lead to later-stage breast cancer diagnoses, which are up to five times more expensive to treat.
“The SCREENS for Cancer Act would help enable earlier detection of breast cancer when treatment options are more effective, and the prognosis is better,” Molly Guthrie, VP of policy and advocacy, said in a statement May 28. “Komen is grateful for the leadership of Sens. Baldwin and Collins on this legislation and urges Congress to pass it quickly.”
Lawmakers also introduced the SCREENS for Cancer Act in 2024, where it gained “widespread” support, Komen noted. The bill passed through key committees in both the House and Senate, but it failed to find eventual passage. Reps. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., reintroduced the same bill in the U.S. House in March. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., also is co-sponsoring the Senate version.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.