Gail’s Law Deserves a Vote – NOW

“If a screening mammogram is covered in order to detect breast cancer at an early stage – which we all agree is vital – then it logically follows that should a more effective screening modality be required to detect cancer in women who have dense breasts, it should also be covered. . . . A woman with dense breasts deserves the same quality screening that a woman who does NOT have dense breasts receives. One size screening does not fit all.

“Optimal screening and breast health assessment should not only be available to women who can afford it. If we truly care about saving lives from breast cancer, then we must ensure that any policy that benefits one group of women, benefits all women.”

That was my testimony to the Senate Committee on Health in February of 2018. Eight years ago. And here we are today with just a few days left in this session – still trying to ensure that high risk women can access the potentially life saving screening tests they need. It shouldn’t be this hard.

Gail Zeamer was at the heart of that 2018 hearing, as she lobbied for a bill that would mandate notification letters to women found to have dense breast tissue. She did it because she learned that most women didn’t know if they had dense tissue. She did it because she learned that not only does dense tissue often mask tumors on mammograms, but that it also puts a woman at a higher risk of developing breast cancer. She did it because her mammogram had missed a tumor that had already begun spreading throughout her body.

That bill became law in 2018. But Gail didn’t stop there. She knew that out of pocket costs for the supplemental screenings – beyond mammograms – would be a barrier for many women. And so she began pushing for cost free coverage of MRI and ultrasound – because that is what is recommended for high risk women. This is the third session we have tried to get a vote on this legislation, now known as “Gail’s Law.”

She worked with us, the heart of our efforts, until the breast cancer that went undetected in her mammogram took her from her family and friends in 2024.

It is time for the legislature to do what’s right for Wisconsin women. There is enormous public support for Gail’s Law. There is broad bi-partisan support for the bill in the legislature. It is clear to us that a majority of our legislature truly DOES care about saving lives from breast cancer. They deserve the opportunity to vote on Gail’s Law.

Dawn Anderson
Wisconsin Breast Cancer Coalition
Early Detection Saves Lives Coalition