WBCC works on multiple fronts to advance our mission to bring Wisconsin voices together to stand up and speak out about breast cancer through legislation, education and collaboration.
Read about some of WBCC’s efforts and accomplishments below:
WBCC is currently working on priorities at the State and Federal Levels to ensure breast cancer patients can access and afford the care they need in a timely and medically appropriate manner.
In Wisconsin, we are encouraging legislators to support a bill that would require health plans to cover MRI and ultrasound screenings for women who have been diagnosed with dense breast tissue, the same way they cover mammogram screening. Read more about this important bill that would affect nearly half of Wisconsin women here.
At the federal level, we are working with the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) to pass the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act: A bill to waive the 24-month waiting period for Medicare and the five-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits for eligible individuals with Metastatic Breast Cancer. This legislation would waive all waiting periods for Medicare and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits based on disability for individuals with metastatic breast cancer. Read more about this bill here.
WBCC has worked collaboratively on the national level to secure and protect funding for breast cancer research totaling more than $4.4 billion since 1992 through the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (DoD-BCRP). More than $45 million of that funding has come back to Wisconsin institutions in the form of research grants. We have also worked to promote and protect good, affordable health care that protects breast cancer patients.
WBCC worked to protect access to breast cancer screening and treatment by monitoring changes to the Wisconsin Well Woman Program. WBCC staff completed a survey of all 14 coordinators of the program over the summer of 2017, resulting in a letter of concern to WWWP leaders at the Department of Health Services. Among key problems coordinators identified are significant gaps in coverage, inefficient outreach and improper billing procedures. The program provides free annual screenings and treatment for women between the ages of 45-64. The state drastically downscaled the program in 2015.
WBCC has sponsored a yearly Survivor/Advocate Meeting, organized by Policy Committee chair Kathleen Harris, following the Milwaukee Review of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. For 5 years, Dr. Christopher Chitambar of the Medical College of Wisconsin was present at the meetings to answer questions and clarify the science. These events identified highlights and take-aways from the reviews. No survivor/advocate meeting was held from 2001-2003. In 2024, WBCC resumed the Survivor/Advocate meeting, facilitated by Dr. Kurt Oettel, Director of Gundersen Health System’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.
WBCC hosted a virtual education workshop “Healthy Lifestyles After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Metastatic Cancer Research and Its Application to Daily Life“ in May 2021.
WBCC hosted the virtual symposium “Knowledge is Power” in February 2021, a two-day event featuring discussions of topics centered on advocacy and women of color and breast cancer. The event featured keynote addresses on “Inequities in Breast Care” and “Metastatic Breast Cancer in Communities of Color.” Breakout session topics included breast cancer disparities in Wisconsin’s Hispanic communities, reaching underserved populations, exercise and survivorship, breast cancer advocacy and essential screening for breast density. Oncologist and survivor panel discussions were also featured.
WBCC hosted “Current Ethical Issues for Breast Cancer Advocates” in October 2017, a speaker forum featuring four top scholars: Rebecca Dresser (Washington University), Pilar Ossario (UW-Madison), Diana Fritz-Cates (University of Iowa) and Ryan Spellecy (Medical College of Wisconsin). The event was held at the Zilber School of Public Health in Milwaukee. A 2016 speaker forum on “Obesity and Breast Cancer”, at Columbia St Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, featured Amy Trentham-Dietz (UW-Madison Carbone Cancer Center), Lisa Arendt (UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine), and Rulla Tamimi, (Harvard University).
WBCC brought its own educational programming, “Breast Cancer and the Environment,” to groups and venues throughout Wisconsin, including the Clean Water Action Council Health Forum in Green Bay, Gilda’s Club in Madison, the YMCA in Oshkosh, Breast Cancer Recovery’s “Sharing the Knowledge” in La Crosse, and Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. WBCC’s free programming also includes presentations on advocacy (“Beyond the Pink Ribbon: Breast Cancer Advocacy 101”).
WBCC distributed its award-winning booklet, “You’ve just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Should you consider a clinical trial?” free to medical settings statewide.
WBCC leaders are community partners with researchers through the Breast Cancer Research Advisory Network based at the UW-Madison Carbone Cancer Center. WBCC also was a Community Partner of The Breast Cancer and the Environmental Research Program (BCERP) from 2010-2015.
As a partner of the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative (formerly the Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Control Program), WBCC volunteers participated in the creation of the WI Comprehensive Control Plans for 2005-2010, 2010-2015 and 2015-2020, and are currently working to implement strategies outlined to achieve goals for the plan.
WBCC staff actively participated on the Wisconsin Cancer Council’s Policy Committee to coordinate policy watch efforts on the state level, with the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Task Force’s Coalitions in Action Team on its hugely successful Sister Pact campaign to address breast cancer mortality disparities for African-American neighborhoods in Milwaukee, and with the National Breast Cancer Coalition, to protect quality health care for survivors and all Americans.