State expands women's cancer screening: Governor says tests will now be offered to 260,000 more uninsured women.

Byline: Monique Garcia

Sep. 28--Continuing his push for near-universal health care after lawmakers rebuffed him this year, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Thursday that all uninsured women in the state will now qualify for free breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment.

Surrounded by health-care advocates, doctors and cancer survivors at Mercy Medical Center on Chicago's South Side, Blagojevich said up to 260,000 more women will be covered by expanding the existing Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program. But spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said the state expects about 5,000 of those 260,000 women to get screenings in the next year, with about 50 needing treatment.

It was unclear Thursday how the program, which at full capacity would cost about $50 million a year, will be funded. Blagojevich said it would be paid for by his recent cuts of so-called "pork" from the state budget, while Ottenhoff said the program would be supported primarily through an additional $1.75 million set aside in the budget for public health.

The announcement was the latest in a string of health-care expansions Blagojevich has been pushing for in recent months.

"No one is immune," Blagojevich said at his first stop on a statewide tour promoting the program. "The challenge to us is whether or not we provide equal opportunity for all women ... to detect it early and therefore treat it, cure it, and ultimately survive it."

Health-care advocates lauded the expansion, which will be coupled with a public awareness campaign, and speculated the move would increase the number of providers willing to screen uninsured women now that the state will foot the bill.