Klobuchar and Wasserman Schultz have their own breast cancer stories. This is how they want Congress to fight it.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar reveals breast cancer diagnosis, successful treatment
The senator’s revelation put a national spotlight on the disease the American Cancer Society says results in more than 200,000 diagnoses each year in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women behind skin cancer.
Wasserman Schultz, 55, kept her diagnosis private for more than a year after learning she had breast cancer nearly 14 years ago. She did so to protect her three young children at the time.
She underwent a double mastectomy, and continued to work as a lawmaker as she underwent treatment, scheduling surgeries during weeks the House was in recess.
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“We know there’s tons of people [who have had] undetected breast cancer and other forms of cancer,” Klobuchar said. “I put mine off from the beginning of the pandemic.”
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer screenings were not considered “essential” medical services – instead, they were classified as “elective” procedures, leading patients and medical professionals to deprioritize them.
“The sooner you know these things, and stop playing games in your mind and get the screening done, the better you’re going to feel and certainly the better off your health is going to be,” Klobuchar said.
It was her personal experience that inspired her to create the legislation, which would establish a task force to develop recommendations addressing preventive care access during COVID-19 and future public health emergencies.
It also would direct the Health and Human Services secretary to create a public health education campaign aimed at informing people about access to preventive services in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Surgeon General, and the administrator of the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services.
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In addition, it also award grants to states, territories, localities, and tribal organizations to increase use and decrease disparities in preventive care services.
Wasserman Schultz agreed prevention is critical to combatting the disease while scientists search for a cure.
“We have to make sure that we focus on prevention” and early detection, she told USA TODAY in a sit down interview Wednesday, surrounded by pink breast cancer awareness memorabilia in her office. Funding preventive measures can bring down mortality rates, she said.
Preventive care measures for breast cancer include scheduling regular mammograms and getting physicals. Klobuchar said a key part of the education campaign would to be inform the public that most of these services are free.
Wasserman Schultz also emphasized the need to educate people how to do self-breast exams.
After her first mammogram, which came back clean, she became more “aware of paying attention to my breast health. So, I was doing a self exam in the shower, found a lump: something that did not feel like what I normally felt.”
While survival rates vary for different cancers, generally, the later a cancer is diagnosed, the more difficult it is to treat.
The U.S. National Cancer Institute, a government agency that conducts cancer research, published an academic article in early September 2020 that said it “conservatively estimates 10,000 excess deaths over the next decade from underdiagnosed and undertreated breast and colorectal cancers during COVID-19.”
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Klobuchar’s bill, which hasn’t been introduced in the House yet, is already getting bipartisan support in the upper chamber.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Rounds and John Thune of South Dakota, have joined Klobuchar and Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jacky Rosen of Nevada in co-sponsoring the legislation.
Rounds’ wife, Jean, has also battled breast cancer.
“My family has seen the importance of preventive health care firsthand as my wife, Jean, has been battling cancer since 2019,” Rounds said in a statement. “Unfortunately, thousands of American families share my family’s story and witness how a scheduled check-up can turn into lifesaving early detection of a horrific disease.
Klobuchar and Wasserman Schultz have teamed up on similar breast cancer legislation and awareness before, helping lead the charge to reauthorize pass the Breast Health Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act, or the EARLY Act, to be reauthorized last year. It was done so as part of the larger government spending and COVID-19 relief legislation.
That legislation, authored by Wasserman Schultz in 2010, created an outreach program administered by the CDC to highlight the disease in younger women, and those who may be at higher risk because of their ethnicities.
Wasserman Schultz saidbecause of her Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, she was much more likely to carry a BRCA gene mutation. Because of this gene, she was also more likely to have ovarian cancer. She had her ovaries removed during her breast cancer treatment.
“Making sure that young women knew their risk was an important part of this legislation,” she said.
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What happens after the diagnosis and battle? While it’s been nearly 14 years since Wasserman Schultz’s diagnosis and treatment, she stressed the “survivor journey is for your lifetime. And there are so many pits and falls that you can trip up on.”
Shetold USA TODAY she is planning on releasing House legislation this year to “help people navigate their post cancer experience,” focusing on helping survivors navigate doctors visits.
For Klobuchar, her diagnoses shined a spotlight on the issue.
“It’s a whole new ballgame when it happens to you personally.”
Contributing: Matthew Brown, Gabriela Miranda, Jasper Colt USA TODAY; Jim Rosica, the Tallahassee Democrat; Drew Favakeh and Meena Venkataramanan, the Arizona Republic