U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee - Larry E. Craig, Chairman - Jade West, Staff Director
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June 20, 2001

Cancelling Coverage May Cost Lives

McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Would Deny

Diagnostic Tests to 14,000 Patients Daily

Earlier this week, Senator Kennedy urged the Senate to act on the "Bipartisan Patient Protection Act" (S. 1052), which he is sponsoring with Senators McCain and Edwards, claiming:

"There are 10,000 doctors every day recommending various diagnostic tests so they can analyze the health care needs of their patients, but patients are denied coverage for these tests." [Congressional Record, June 18, 2001, S6380]

On the contrary, it is the McCain-Edwards-Kennedy bill that would deny coverage for diagnostic tests -- to 14,000 Americans every day.

Type of Screening Screenings Cancelled Annually under S. 1052
Breast 243,000
Pelvic 256,000
Rectal 148,000
Skin 348,000
Visual 203,000
Glaucoma 85,000
Hearing 53,000
Blood Pressure 1,470,000
Strep 59,000
Pap Smears 148,000
Urinalysis 282,000
Pregnancy 15,000
Prostate (PSA) 37,000
Blood Lead Level 10,000
Cholesterol Tests 110,000
HIV 6,000
Other STDs 14,000
Hemoglobin 180,000
Other Blood Tests 418,000
EKGs 89,000
X-Rays 222,000
CAT/MRIs 54,000
Mammograms 67,000
Ultrasound 81,000
Other diagnostic screens 457,000
Total* 5,050,000

Every year in America, private health insurance pays for 700 million diagnostic screenings, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Every year diagnostic tests give patients crucial time to prepare for and fight an often deadly disease.

  • Using data prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the independent Lewin Group, it is estimated McCain-Edwards-Kennedy would cause some 1.3 million Americans to lose their health coverage.

  • This would cancel coverage for some 5 million diagnostic tests every year and 14,000 diagnostic tests every day.

Hypertension. Prostate cancer. Cervical cancer. Ovarian cancer.  Uterine cancer. Breast cancer. Skin cancer. AIDS. If McCain-Edwards-Kennedy robs 1.3 million Americans of their health insurance, these people will be stripped of coverage for early-detection tests and other exams, and so more diseases - some curable if detected early - will go undiagnosed.

Without these vital tests, many Americans will learn too late they have been stricken with cancer and other diseases. Perhaps thousands will unnecessarily lose years of their lives because McCain-Edwards-Kennedy made health coverage too expensive.

*Sum of tests cancelled may not equal total due to rounding.

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