October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast Cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control and it creates a mass tissue called a tumor.

Women breast health changes year over year. And for women, the risk for developing breast cancer increases as they age which makes annual screening a vital wellness check. Identifying risk and finding breast cancers early through mammography leads to early diagnosis and treatment with a much better prognosis.

The Arkansas General Assembly passed the Breast Cancer Act in 1997. This led to the ADH’s BreastCare Program. This program has coordinated efforts with a statewide network of providers offering no-cost screenings and follow-up services to eligible women who are uninsured or underinsured. Women aged 21-64 can be screened for cervical cancer and women aged 40-64 can be screened for breast cancer.

The BreastCare Program has enrolled over 128,000 women for breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services since its inception 25 years ago.

In a regular session in 2021, Act 553 was passed. This act amends the law concerning coverage of diagnostic examinations for breast cancer under certain health benefit plans. This Act clarifies that an insurer, upon the recommendation of a woman’s phyisician, must offer screening mammography as an essential health benefit if the woman has a prior history of breast cancer or the woman’s mother, sister, or any first-or second degree female relative of the woman has had a history of breast cancer, positive genetic testing, or other risk factors.