Senate passes bill to enhance breast cancer screening to aid in early detection

Legislation that would remove the financial barrier for women at high lifetime risk for breast cancer from obtaining supplemental screenings and require insurance companies to cover their genetic counseling and testing won Pennsylvania Senate passage on Monday.

The bipartisan-backed bill, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, passed with a 50-0 vote followed by strong round of applause in the chamber. It now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.

“There's a lot of people that are affected by this disease and when you get this disease and when you get this diagnosis, it's a punch in the stomach,” Ward said in her Senate floor remarks. “But knowing that we're here fighting for them, that we're here to make early detection better without a copay means a lot.”

The bill removes the out-of-pocket costs associated with genetic testing and genetic counseling for people at high risk of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which predisposes them to breast cancer. It further provides for those at high risk of a breast cancer diagnosis to get an MRI and/or ultrasound at no cost, no copay, no deductible or no no coinsurance.

The high-risk conditions covered by the bill include dense breast tissue, personal history of breast cancer, family history of breast cancer, genetic predisposition and prior radiation therapy.

Genetic counseling explores a person's family health history and determines if a pattern of certain cancers reaches a threshold to warrant testing, said Maria Baker, a professor of medicine at Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute.

Testing is done by collecting a blood or saliva sample that is analyzed for genes showing a susceptibility to certain types of cancer. With that knowledge, she said people can begin to manage their risk for cancer through positive lifestyle changes or begin enhanced surveillance for cancer such as with supplemental MRI or ultrasound in addition to mammograms.

“I've personally witnessed patients that I've worked with where we identified a BRCA mutation and they are making a conscious decision to forego doing the breast MRI because they can't afford the $2,000 deductible that they have with their health insurance policy,” Baker said. “That's why this bill is important.”

Pat Halpin-Murphy, founder of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition said repeatedly early breast cancer detection saves lives.

“It reaches so many people and although there's no cure for it, treatments are improving and the earlier you detect it, the better your chances,” HalpinMurphy said. “If you are detected early, the five-year survival rate is 90%. It's the late detection that is causing so many women to die of breast cancer.”

One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer and Ward said the legislation is about preventing cancer.

“If we know we have a gene or we know that if we have the gene, we can take the actions we need to stop, to try to put an end to getting cancer,” said Ward, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020.

She said her cancer was detected early but it could have been detected even sooner if she had been able to get an MRI, which she said wasn't offered since insurance didn't pay for it. But because she had connections and could afford to pay for the MRI, she was able to get one.

Ward said, “Many, many women are not able to do that and this would put all of them in a position be able to get the testing they need.”