State Expands Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Program, Drops Catch-22

Illinois will expand its Breast Cancer and Cervical Program (BCCP) to cover the costs of screening and treatement for all uninsured lower-income women starting January 2007. The new state budget, which the General Assembly passed and Gov. Rod. R. Blagojevich signed into law, includes, at the governor's request, $1.6 million to cover the expansion.

Illinois will expand its Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (BCCP) to cover the costs of screening and treatment for all uninsured lower-income women starting January 2007. The new state budget, which the General Assembly passed and Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed into law, includes, at the governor’s request, $1.6 million to cover the expansion. The state’s 2007 budget allows coverage for uninsured women with incomes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level—$50,000 for a family of four. Under prior budgets, the income ceiling was 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

The budget action will eliminate a harsh catch-22 in the current program. In order to control costs, the program now pays for treatment only for women whose diseases are first diagnosed by program physicians. Women diagnosed by BCCP providers are eligible for free treatment; those diagnosed by others—for example, their own doctor or a community health center—are not. This leaves many uninsured women to deal on their own with the double trauma of a serious cancer diagnosis and the need to scramble to find ways to pay for cancer treatment. Women go into deep debt, go bankrupt, and delay treatment while they search for doctors or hospitals that treat uninsured people. Starting January 1, 2008, eligible women will be covered for treatment regardless of where they are diagnosed.

Generally, uninsured women between the ages of 40 and 64 are eligible for mammograms and breast exams and between the ages of 35 and 64 for pelvic exams and Pap tests. Younger women who have symptoms of breast or cervical cancer are considered for eligibility in the program on a case-by-case basis. Women receiving cancer treatment in the program are eligible for all Medicaid-covered health services while they are in cancer treatment.

Women can find out how to get free breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatment by calling the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Women’s Health Line at 888.522.1282 or by visiting the agency website, www.idph.state.il.us. 

For more information, contact Margaret Stapleton at the Shriver Center at 312.368.3327.