This is one of those issues where we can actually save money by applying a little prevention. We can pay a little now, or we can pay a lot later.
Ask yourself, how much does it cost to treat cancer as opposed to a Pap smear and a vaccine?
Not to mention a funeral.
This should be an easy call.
Cervical cancer cases can be cut in half by 2010 through wider use of Pap test screening and a new vaccination against the virus that causes 99% of cervical cancer cases, a governor's task force says.
Seventy percent of those who die of cervical cancer have not had a Pap test to detect it, said Janet Olszwewski, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health.
State Surgeon General Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom said early detection through Pap tests is the key to eliminating cervical cancer, which can be easily detected by a Pap test and then treated.
The task force reported that 118 women in Michigan died of cervical cancer in 2004.
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The task force recommends that the state increase Pap testing among women eligible for Medicaid, which pays for the test. The report calls for encouraging the use of a new vaccine against HPV.
The task force can recommend all they want, but last year, funding for this ran out in August.
Michigan has run out of state and federal funding under CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which offers screening services to low-income women without insurance, and the program next year is expected to serve fewer women because of funding cuts, the Detroit Free Press reports. The program provides Pap tests and other screenings for qualified women ages 18 to 64 and mammograms for qualified women ages 40 to 64.
Under the current funding structure, the Michigan Department of Community Health has lowered its estimate for the number of women it will serve through the program from 25,000 this year to 22,310 next year. Eleven Michigan counties currently are telling thousands of women they will have to wait until October to receive services because of a lack of funding, according to the Free Press. Michigan this year received $9 million in federal funding and provided $1 million in state funding for the program.
One wonder if this is one of those things where the state will have to cut- or if the Feds will take any action to help out. Last year, Debbie Stabenow co-sponsored a bill to increase funding, but apparently it stayed in committee.
A bill (S 1687), co-sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), currently pending in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee would reauthorize the program and increase by $50 million its funding to $250 million annually beginning in 2007. According to the Free Press, the funding increase would allow 147,000 more U.S. women to receive services under the program.
Not sure what is up at the federal level now, but word is the vaccine bill will be re-introduced in Michigan, and is expected to pass this time around.
State Sen. Patty Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, has unfinished business waiting in the new legislative session.
She and Sen. Deborah Cherry, D-Burton, plan to shepherd through a bill calling for cervical cancer vaccinations for sixth-grade girls. The bill was defeated in the House on Dec. 15, the final day of the legislative session.
The bill sailed through the Senate last year, but was defeated in House in the dead of the night by members of the far right. Check the excuses from the "Kevins".
The bill passed the Senate in August with only one dissenting vote. It came to the House floor just before midnight Dec. 14, passed with 58 "yes" votes, but was reconsidered after five dissenters discussed their reasons for saying no.
"There are times when government can and should mandate vaccinations, for example, when failure to vaccinate may lead to airborne pathogenic disease," Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Bellaire, said at the time. "At this point, I do not see this issue rising to that level."
A second vote early Dec. 15 garnered only 53 "yes" votes, three shy of the number needed for passage.
One of the dissenters was Rep. Kevin Green, R-Wyoming. "I don't want to be the one to tell my constituents their children have to take this," he said.
Then you are a coward, Kevin. And nobody said they "have" to do this.
No one has to be vaccinated, Birkholz pointed out. Michigan law says vaccinations may be refused for religious, philosophical or moral reasons.
"Did they read the bill?" she asked. "If they read the bill, they would have known that."
Green said opting out is "a little bit of a hassle."
And cancer treatment is a walk in the park. No hassle there, right?
Dr. Thomas Petroff, a Lansing gynecologist who serves on the Governor's Task Force on Cervical Cancer, supports the vaccine. "Inoculating young women to prevent cancer of the cervix is one of those no-brainer things," he said.
Whether the state can afford to pay the $360 for the series of three shots is another question, he said.
Can the state afford not to?
South Dakota is on the ball, and is offering free vaccinations. Go read their fact sheet for more info.
During his 2007 State of the State address, Governor Rounds announced the state would launch a one-year initiative to offer HPV vaccine free to South Dakota girls from ages 11 to 18. The Gardasil vaccine can prevent the strains of HPV (human papilloma virus) that cause up to 70% of all cervical cancer. The following fact sheet was developed to provide more information about the initiative.
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In the year 2000, it was estimated that the cost of treating HPV-related diseases in the United States reached almost $4 billion. (American Cancer Society. Cancer facts & figures 2005)
The annual cost of treating a woman who has cervical cancer is $20,255 if the cancer has not spread beyond the cervix, $36,912 if it has spread to other parts of the body.
Get this done, Michigan. Not only will we save lives, we will save money.