The Sconi

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is one of several lawmakers now pushing the Preventive Care Awareness Act as a step toward promoting mammograms and other forms of cancer screenings.

Baldwin recently joined fellow lawmakers Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and John Thune (R-SD) in introducing the legislation, which also seeks to increase overall numbers for other preventive health care services such as physicals and routine examinations.

Recent studies have found that upwards of one in three adults report delaying or forgoing health care because of coronavirus-related concerns and other statistics detail that the odds that a woman received a breast cancer screening in 2020 were 20% lower than the year prior. In addition, during the early stages of the pandemic researchers found health screenings for children decreased almost by half.

“We can always do more to promote preventive health care and make sure everyone has access to it, so I have introduced the bipartisan Preventive Care Awareness Act,” Baldwin said in a post to Twitter. “Whether it is cancer screenings, annual physicals or flu shots and vaccines, preventive health care can have a positive impact on health outcomes and we should do all we can to enhance access to these services."

The Preventive Care Awareness Act seeks to award grants to states, territories, localities and Tribal organizations in an effort to increase utilization and decrease disparities in preventive care services, establish a task force to develop recommendations addressing preventive care access during the pandemic and future public health emergencies and “direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to undertake a coordinated, focused public health education campaign to enhance access to preventive services, in collaboration with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Surgeon General, and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).”

Klobuchar added the issue is one that has become close to her own heart.

“Following my breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year, this issue is personal to me," she told WISTV.com. "While I was fortunate to have caught the cancer at an early stage, that is not the case for many. As a result of delays in care due to the pandemic, doctors continue to see patients who have developed more serious conditions that could have been caught earlier. With this legislation, we have an opportunity to save lives.”

After receiving her own diagnosis, Klobuchar said she dedicated herself to crafting legislation aimed at improving awareness and access to preventative cancer care. Originally diagnosed with Stage 1A breast cancer, she has now been declared cancer-free.

“One of the things I learned from this whole thing is that there are so many people that have put off their preventative screenings,” she said. “I did. We put together this bill focused on early screenings and making sure people understand this is available to you.”

A recent study found that women who attended two regularly scheduled mammography appointments before a cancer diagnosis had a 49% lower risk of breast cancer mortality and a 50% lower risk of breast cancer death within 10 years of diagnosis.