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Breast cancer is a terrifying disease for most women. In the United States, it is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women ages twenty to fifty-nine yearsMore than 5,100 women are diagnosed with—and at least 1,100 women die from—breast cancer in New York City each year. The breast cancer survival rate is also lower for uninsured women than for those with private health insurance coverage.

Although access to affordable breast cancer screening and treatment has grown substantially over the past few years as a result of increased health insurance coverage options through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many uninsured women are not able to obtain free or subsidized screening and treatment—in New York City and across the country as well—largely because of age and income-eligibility requirements that must be met to participate in cancer screening and treatment financial support programs.

In New York City, a partnership-based payment and delivery system model designed for breast cancer called the Breast Treatment Task Force (BTTF) has facilitated more than 6,000 screenings and diagnostic procedures and seventy-one cancer treatments for more than 3,500 patients over the past decade.

The BTTF is a nonprofit organization that facilitates breast cancer screening, education, diagnostic follow-up, and treatment for women without health insurance coverage. Most diagnostic and treatment services are provided to the BTTF free of charge by physicians, hospitals, imaging and radiology centers, and pharmaceutical companies, while other costs are covered through grants and donations from foundations (Avon Foundation for WomenSy Syms FoundationHarry S. Black and Allon Fuller Fund, and Investors Foundation) and other organizations (Barbells for Boobs and Pfizer).

Which Patients Fall Through The Cracks?

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