COLUMBIA - A statewide program that helps treat breast and cervical cancer for the uninsured has been expanded to include more women diagnosed with the disease.
Age and screening requirements were loosened for the program after state lawmakers earmarked $1 million for the Medicaid program, money that was matched by $3.7 million in federal funds.
South Carolina is now one of 13 states to offer the expanded coverage under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act.
"This clearly doubles the number of women who are being treated," said Mary Lynn Faunda Donovan, the president of the Upstate South Carolina affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which lobbied for the additional money.
More than 200 people have been treated since the program was started in 2001, but the additional money could help about 380 more women.
Previously, the program provided screening and treatment for low-income women ages 47 to 64.
"A lot of women get breast cancer much younger than 47, and you're supposed to start getting your annual screening at 40 anyway," Ms. Donovan said. "So if you're too young, you don't qualify for a free mammogram."
Coverage also had previously been limited to women who were screened through the South Carolina Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, also known as Best Chance Network. Now women diagnosed by any physician will qualify for the program.
To qualify, women can't have insurance that covers breast or cervical cancer treatment and must have an income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That would be $19,140 for a single woman, $25,660 for a family of two and $38,700 for a family of four. The women also must not be eligible for another Medicaid group that would cover breast cancer treatments.