Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Time to Take Action

Published in Women's Health on October 21, 2019

It’s October! While we associate this month with everything pumpkin spice, caramel apples, cider and anything cozy, it’s also time to think pink. After all, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

While the primary focus of Breast Cancer Awareness is about raising awareness for the disease, early detection, treatment, and finding a cure, we’d also like to focus on all of the amazing breast cancer survivors and making sure they have all of the options available to them following a mastectomy.

An estimated 268,600 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer by the end of 2019, which is more than lung, colon and uterine cancer combined. Of that diagnosed population, 144,000 women will undergo a mastectomy. Following a mastectomy, women currently have four options: reconstruction, go flat, wear an off-the-shelf prosthesis, and custom breast prosthesis. However, not all of these are an option for women. Most notably, Medicare does not cover custom breast prostheses.

However, there is hope: The Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act, S. 562/H.R. The Fight For Katie 1370 has been re-introduced into Congress. This bicameral, bipartisan bill will require Medicare to recognize custom breast prosthesis as an eligible benefit after mastectomy surgery.

As of writing this post, there are 34 House members who have signed on in support and four senators. To move this bill forward, we need to have at least 218 House members and 51 senators, which represents a majority in each chamber.

Here’s What You Can Do

What we need now is for people like you, people who want to see this legislation passed, to reach out to your elected officials to let them know this is important to you — as their constituent. Here are a few things you can do:

Take Action: Send a letter to your elected officials asking them to support the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act. (The email has already been written, so it’s really easy!) Go to letherdecide.org and click on ‘Take Action.’
Call your elected officials to request that they sign on to the legislation. Let them know how breast cancer and access to custom breast prosthesis has affected your life.
Like and Follow the Let Her Decide campaign on Facebook and Twitter, and invite your friends too!
Contact local breast cancer support groups and ask if you can visit them to speak about the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act and Let Her Decide Campaign.

Read the full story from HME Business.

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