December, 01 2009, 10:01am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906
Senator Mikulski's Women's Health Amendment Is an Important Improvement to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill
WASHINGTON
The National Organization for Women thanks Senator Barbara Mikulski
for introducing the Women's Health Amendment, which would require all
health plans to cover women's preventive care including mammograms and
cervical cancer screenings.
The breast and cervical cancer screening recommendations recently
issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) have many
women justifiably concerned. With its discriminatory history of denying
coverage for various forms of women's health care, it's not a stretch
to foresee our profit-driven insurance industry electing not to cover
mammograms for women in their 40's based on the USPSTF's new
recommendations.
Until there are better diagnostic tools for breast cancer, women
must have access to mammograms. In particular, women who have family
histories of breast cancer must have access to early mammogram
screening. NOW urges all Senators to support Senator Mikulski's
amendment which will guarantee women in their 40's access to mammograms
and other screenings, and prevent insurance companies from making them
so expensive women can't afford them.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States. NOW has 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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