SAINT PAUL, MINN. – February 15, 2008 – State Senator Kathy Sheran of Mankato and Representative Maria Ruud of Minnetonka introduced Minnesota’s Colorectal Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Act.  The bill (S.F. 2698 & H.F. 2890) would create a program providing under and uninsured Minnesotans with access to colorectal cancer screenings that detect and remove precancerous growths before they grow into later more fatal stages of colon and rectal cancer.  The program would be similar to the existing breast and cervical cancer screening program in Minnesota established in 1991.

Sheran and Ruud propose a program that would create cost savings and save lives by assuring access to screening for those who are at risk.   While colorectal screening is a cost effective prevention tool, 80 percent of uninsured Minnesotans are not being screened because cost and coverage are barriers.  If a person is screened and a polyp is detected, it can be removed for about $1,500.  However if it goes undetected, grows into cancer and spreads, the cost of treatment can add up to more than $58,000.  According to Senator Sheran: “At a time when Minnesota is trying to contain costs and increase access to health care this bill does both.  By investing in prevention we avoid the human suffering and financial burden of more costly cancer treatments down the road.”

When screening detects colorectal cancers early, 90 percent of people survive, but their chances of survival drop to just ten percent if the cancer grows and spreads.  “It’s neither smart or compassionate for us to accept this inequity,” says Representative Ruud who is also a nurse. 

            With screening, colorectal cancer is one of the most detectable and preventable types of cancer, but it continues to be Minnesota’s second leading cancer killer.  Each year 2,500 Minnesota men and women are diagnosed with colon or rectal cancers and 900 die from the disease.  According to Dr. David Perdue, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, many may die unnecessarily:  “We could dramatically decrease colorectal cancer deaths and avoid people’s suffering through costly treatments or worse if we could just get them screened.  Bottom line, colorectal screening saves lives.”

Colon cancer survivor and former WCCO news anchor Cindy Hillger will join other American Cancer Society volunteers to support the bill at the March 6^th Cancer Day at the Capitol.  As a colon cancer survivor she argues: “I’m lucky, we caught my cancer early enough and I had access to the treatment that saved my life.  You can’t beat it if you don’t know it,s there.  Ensuring access to these cancer screenings gives everyone the fighting chance I had.”