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Thursday, September 4, 2003
Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno announced today that he has committed $500,000 to a program for prostate cancer education to increase public awareness of the importance of prostate cancer screening and early detection.
"The single, most important factor in the successful treatment of cancer is early detection," Senator Bruno said. "These funds will help increase public awareness about prostate cancer and educate people about the critical importance of getting early tests and screenings and, ultimately, save lives."
The funds announced today by Senator Bruno will come from unexpended monies from the Health Care Reform Act. They will go to the Prostate and Testicular Cancer Detection and Education Program, a state fund created in 1997 to receive private donations and state appropriations. The fund currently has $56,000 from the sale of special Prostate Cancer Awareness license plates.
According to the Prostate Cancer Education Council, there are more cases of prostate cancer than any other major cancer. More than 220,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. Screening is the only way to detect prostate cancer in its earliest stages and the survival rate when detected early is nearly 100 percent.
"Health care has always been a priority for the Senate, particularly in regard to public awareness about cancer and ensuring that New Yorkers have access to tests and screenings that can detect cancer," Senator Bruno said. "These funds will supplement the state�s efforts to fight all types of cancer through increased public education."
Previous cancer-related initiatives include the Women's Health and Wellness Act, enacted last year, which provides for cervical cancer screening and requires insurers to pay for annual breast cancer-detecting mammograms for women beginning at age 40. Mammography screening is the medical technology used in the current standard of practice to detect breast cancer in its early stages, when it can be treated most successfully. Mammography screening before the age of 50 has reduced breast cancer deaths by 30 percent.
In addition, the Healthy Women�s Partnership, established in 1989, is an $11.5 million program that is funded by the state and federal governments, as well as through a breast cancer check-off on income tax returns. The program provides coverage for breast and cervical cancer screenings for uninsured and underinsured women. The state matches funds raised through the check-off and by sales of "Drive for the Cure" license plates.
Other laws enacted last year directed the Superintendent of Insurance, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Health, to assess whether the use of computer-aided detection (CAD) devices provide measurably better results in the detection of breast cancer, as well as a policyholder cost estimate for CAD use, and to report findings to the Legislature and the Governor; and to provide state employees with four hours additional leave for mammography screenings.
Also, the state requires that health education in schools include instruction in the prevention and detection of cancer.
Other state programs related to the fight against cancer include:
> Mobile Mammography Units that provide breast and cervical cancer screening to uninsured women in rural areas;
> A Department of Health program to provide information and educational materials regarding ovarian cancer;
> A colorectal cancer screening pilot project related to statewide screening and expanding services to low-income and uninsured New Yorkers.
Senator Bruno, who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, pointed out that September 14-20, 2003 is Prostate Cancer Awareness Week. During that week, hundreds of thousands of men will take advantage of free or low cost screenings that will be made available at 500 testing sites throughout the country. According to the Prostate Cancer Awareness Council, since the beginning of Prostate Cancer Awareness Week in 1989, the survival rate has increased to more than 90 percent.
The American Cancer Society recommends that men have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test each year, beginning at age 50, or earlier for people with a family history of prostate cancer. In 2000, the Legislature passed a law requiring insurance coverage for diagnostic tests for prostate cancer for all men age 50 or older; for men 40 or older who have a family history of prostate cancer or other risk factors; and for men of any age with a personal history of prostate cancer.
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