WASHINGTON – This week, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, reintroduced the “Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings” Act, also known as PALS.
If passed, the act will protect access to mammograms for women 40-49 years of age.
The routine screening is currently deemed unnecessary for that age group by the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force.
Many other medical organizations disagree with that, and for Wasserman-Schultz, a breast cancer survivor herself, this fight is personal.
“As someone diagnosed at 41 and had the mammogram raise my antennae. It was clean, it was calcification, but it made it so I did my self-exam and found my breast cancer myself,” she said. “I might not be standing here today if I didn’t have access to regular mammograms covered by insurance.”
Doctors say it’s more important than ever to give women access to mammograms since the pandemic kept many women from being screened for breast cancer.
When breast cancer is detected early, the five-year survival rate is very high.