Source: Komen Columbus
The recently passed state budget provides improvements in funding levels and access to the Ohio Breast and Cervical Cancer Project (BCCP), which provides critical breast cancer screening and diagnostic services for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women who do not qualify for Medicaid.
In addition to adding and additional $350,000 to the project each year, that legislation raises the income eligibility to 300% of the federal poverty limit, up from 250%, and allows women as young as 21 and women older than 65 to access the program.
The project had previously been able to serve less than 10% of the eligible women in the state. BCCP is the number one safety-net for low income, underinsured, and uninsured women to access mammograms, clinical breast exams, and treatment for both breast and cervical cancer.
In the state of Ohio, 10,240 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer and 1,710 will die – in 2019 alone. With advances in science and treatment, coupled with early detection, national breast cancer mortality rates are beginning to decline. However, Ohio still ranks 6th in the nation in breast cancer mortality rates.