Uplifting news Florida, the “Boobie Bill” is here. In a move that will make women and employers jump for joy, State Rep Mike Caruso (R-West Palm Beach) has filed a bill in the Florida House that, if passed into law, will ensure that the whopping fifty percent of women who have been diagnosed as having “dense” breasts, will be able to bypass getting their annual mammogram and go straight to getting a breast ultrasound each year. This means one annual test that’s more accurate and saves time, mental anguish, and money for half of all women instead of two yearly tests. Although it seems hard to believe, for years, women who have said, “Is it necessary to get two tests” and been told by these boobs, yes, you have to, and “Tough titties,” if you don’t like it, this new law is for you.
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Each year, women over forty get an annual breast mammography exam. A mammogram is an x-ray to ensure that breast cancer is caught early. The test itself is an uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassing effort where each breast is mashed into cold metal plates to get pictures of the inside of them to see if there’s anything wrong. Women know mammograms are necessary for medical care and have saved countless lives. However, for women who have been diagnosed with dense breast tissue, a mammogram isn’t sufficient because the tissue is too thick to get an accurate reading. The accuracy rating for dense breasts can go to as low as 30 percent compared with 86-98 percent in “fatty” breasts. Millions of women are stuck getting an annual exam that isn’t remarkably accurate.
The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) conducted a study on the prevalence of dense breasts in the US. It analyzed 1,518,599 mammograms and estimated that 27.6 million women aged 40 to 74 have “extremely” dense breasts. The number increases to 30.8 million women aged 40 and older when those 75 and above are included.
For up to fifty percent of women with this issue, it means coming back for an ultrasound. Getting a yearly exam that entails x-ray radiation is not exactly the best thing in the world for you, and wasting a half day a year just to be told they need to spend another half day to get an ultrasound is an ask that some won’t bother to go through with.
The yearly dense breast scenario works like this: The woman goes in for a mammogram. The woman receives a call or a letter a few weeks later and is told that additional testing is needed. For many, this is a scary phone call to receive. She does not know why she must return, and many assume the worst. The result is that in the weeks leading up to the ultrasound, some women think they have breast cancer. Other women are scared and never return, which means many lives that could potentially be saved aren’t.
Once women have experienced this, they understand that they must do it yearly. It means going to two exams instead of one and receiving more radiation than necessary. For those who work or have children at home, it means making arrangements for another half-day off, which is terrible for both the women who have to do this and their employers. Millions of people are affected by the dense breast problem.
From the new bill, entitled “An Act Related to Dense Breast Tissue Screenings,”
Certain patients may receive an ultrasound or other additional screening tests without first having a conventional mammogram.
Dense breast tissue screening requirements:
A patient previously identified as having dense breast tissue in a mammography report may receive an ultrasound or other additional screening tests without first having a conventional mammogram.
The bill is so short that it could be called an A-cup-sized bill. You can read the entire bill below.
This bill was recently filed, which means more information and changes to the bill can and probably will be made. This is a serious issue; thankfully, the Florida legislature is addressing it. Should the bill pass, it will go into effect on July 1, 2025.
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