Pryor celebrates passage of co-authored bill regarding breast cancer screening

Today, House Bill 1058 passed out of the House of Representatives unanimously and has been referred to the Senate for consideration. HB 1058 requires facilities to take breast tissue density into account when performing a mammography as dense tissue makes it difficult to spot signs of breast cancer in mammograms. 
 
“House Bill 1058 will save lives. Period,” Pryor said. “Traditional mammography doesn’t always catch the cancer, particularly for women with a higher density breast tissue. This bill gives more women a better chance at early detection, which increases the survival rate by 93%.
 
“A mammogram alone may not be enough to catch cancer before it has a chance to develop into stage 3 or stage 4. We need to do everything we can to give Hoosier women the best chance of survival we can, and House Bill 1058 does just that.” 
 
Additionally, this bill also expands the definition of breast reconstruction to include aesthetic flat closure and chest wall reconstruction. 
 
“Survivors of breast cancer deserve the dignity of breast reconstruction after enduring painful treatment to win their battle against cancer,” Pryor said. “By adding chest wall reconstruction and aesthetic flat closure to the definition of breast reconstruction, most insurance agencies will cover the procedure. This will allow survivors to rebuild their lives after cancer with less discomfort.”