{"id":1317818,"date":"2020-01-21T18:07:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T01:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=992745"},"modified":"2020-01-21T18:07:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T01:07:33","slug":"colorado-bill-would-require-insurance-to-cover-colorectal-cancer-screenings-beginning-at-age-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/colorado-bill-would-require-insurance-to-cover-colorectal-cancer-screenings-beginning-at-age-45\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bill would require insurance to cover colorectal cancer screenings beginning at age 45"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Colorectal cancer survivor Scott Wilson \/ provided <\/strong>
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Scott Wilson was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer at the age of 48.<\/p>\n

A bill recently introduced at the Colorado legislative session has garnered Wilson\u2019s support, as it would require health insurance carriers to cover preventative colorectal cancer screenings for both average-risk men and women beginning at the age of 45 as opposed to 50.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s safe to assume that if I had been diagnosed at 45 rather than 48 I would have at least been early stage,\u201d Wilson, a survivor advocate with the Colorado Cancer Coalition, said. \u201cIt may have been prevented altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colon cancer and rectal cancer often get grouped together due to their commonalities.<\/p>\n

According to the Colorado Cancer Coalition, treating colorectal cancer in its early stages leads to a 90% survival rate.<\/p>\n

However, individuals diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer, like Wilson, have an approximately 10% survival rate according to the Colorado Cancer Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they say survival rate, that means surviving five years beyond diagnosis,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI am 29 months into that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Bill 20-1103, which Rep. Perry Will (R-New Castle) sponsored, would provide preventative health insurance coverage for screenings in accordance with the American Cancer Society\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n

The American Cancer Society recommends that individuals with an average risk of developing colorectal cancer begin regular screenings at age 45.<\/p>\n

However, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force\u2019s guidelines, which state law currently adheres to, recommends screening for colorectal cancer beginning at 50.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur argument is that the American Cancer Society\u2019s guideline is a more up-to-date and more recently based on science guidelines,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the American Cancer Society released updated guidelines concerning colorectal cancer screenings, recommending screenings at 45.<\/p>\n

In addition to adopting the American Cancer Society\u2019s updated age guideline, the bill would also mandate coverage of a follow-up colonoscopy should the initial medical test or procedure come back as being abnormal.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be over 104,000 new colon cancer cases and more than 43,000 new rectal cancer cases in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The American Cancer Society also estimates over 53,000 deaths as a result of colorectal cancer will occur in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the evidence is there to say, \u2018We need to catch these cases earlier,\u2019\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorectal cancer survivor Scott Wilson \/ provided Scott Wilson was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer at the age of 48. A bill recently introduced at the Colorado legislative session has garnered Wilson\u2019s support, as it would require health insurance carriers to cover preventative colorectal cancer screenings for both average-risk men and women beginning at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 04:24:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}