South Carolina's Medicaid beneficiaries are now eligible for screening colonoscopies, a measure that advocates say will save lives, as well as taxpayer money.

The test, which looks for colon cancer and precancerous polyps, is available to anyone on Medicaid 50 to 64, and to high-risk people beginning at age 40, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Medicaid program.

Up to now, only diagnostic colonoscopies, those done because of symptoms, were covered.

About 148,000 Americans -- more than 2,000 of them in South Carolina -- will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and about 55,170 people will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. African-Americans are at increased risk for getting colon cancer, and dying from it.

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"The more people who get this screening, the more lives will be saved," said cancer society spokeswoman MJ Wardle.

Colon cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in South Carolina, killing 900 residents a year, according to the state. Those deaths could be cut by 60 percent with screening colonoscopies, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Colon cancer's mortality rate has been declining over the past 15 years, largely due to screening tests that find cancer in the earliest stages when it's easiest to treat. When discovered early, 90 percent of people live at least five years, CDC reports. But fewer than four in 10 cases are discovered early because of low screening rates.

Because colonoscopies catch cancers early when they are most treatable, Wardle says that offering the screening test will also save money because early treatment costs are lower than treating later-stage disease.

Medicaid pays $300 to $500 for the test, said HHS spokesman Bryan Kost, noting that providing this prevention tool should generate 30 percent savings annually.

"We are looking at $5 million spent on that cancer in Medicaid population and a $1.7 million savings (initially)," he said. "There will be better savings over time."

About 50,000 Medicaid recipients are eligible for the screening test, according to HHS.