Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R), Speaker Dennis O'Brien, Obama and McCain Health Care Advisors, Breast Cancer Survivors and Advocates Call for Needed Health Ca...( Pennsylvania Joins Nationwide Komen ...),Health

Pennsylvania Joins Nationwide Komen Community Challenge Campaign to Close the Gaps that Make Breast Cancer Deadlier for Low-Income Women and Women of

Color

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania House Speaker Dennis O'Brien (R-169th) joined state health officials and breast cancer survivors and advocates from the Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R) at a public forum this morning to call for policies to close the gaps in access to quality care that cause low-income women, women of color and underinsured women to die from breast cancer more often.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070122/NYM084LOGO)

"Pennsylvania has been hit hard by breast cancer, and unfortunately, low-income and minority women have been hit the hardest," said Elaine I. Grobman, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "The policies in place now are simply not enough -- more than 2,000 women in Pennsylvania will die of breast cancer this year. It is time to increase our investment in the women of this state, so that all women have access to life-saving early detection and treatment."

The forum, moderated by Pat Ciarrocchi of CBS 3 Eyewitness News, featured a panel of policymakers, healthcare providers and breast cancer survivors who discussed the challenges and policy solutions that will get Komen closer to its goal of ensuring that every woman in the state will receive access to screening and quality breast health care.

Low- and moderate-income women in Pennsylvania who are either uninsured or underinsured are eligible for free breast and cervical early detection services through the Pennsylvania HealthyWoman Program (HWP). However, due to inadequate funding, the HWP is only able to serve approximately 12,000 of the more than 110,000 women who are eligible eac
'/>"/>