toomuchfreetime:

OS ANGELES (AP) ― Click to enlarge 1 of 1 CBS Related Stories

New Advice: Skip Mammograms In 40s, Start In 50s (11/17/2009) New Mammogram Guidelines Causing Confusion, Anger (11/18/2009) Senate Votes 58-42 To Cut Medicare In Health Bill (12/3/2009) Mammogram Report A Subject In Health Debate (11/23/2009) Medical Experts Weigh In On Mammogram Controversy (11/18/2009) Schwarzenegger Signs Mammogram Inspection Bill (10/12/2009) David Goldstein Investigates Mammogram Machines (4/16/2008) A state program that provides mammogram services to low-income women is temporarily stopping new enrollments, and plans to raise the eligibility age when it restarts seven months later.

The Every Woman Counts program will be suspended Jan. 1, and when it starts up again July 2, 2010, California Department of Public Health director Dr. Mark Horton says it won’t serve women under the age of 50.

Previously, to be eligible for the program women had to be 40 years old.

Horton blamed declining state tobacco tax revenues and increasing demand for screenings for the cuts.

The program served 311,000 California women this fiscal year and expects to serve 259,000 next year. (© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

When I first heard about that government-sponsored report saying women only need mammograms starting at the age of 50 instead of 40, I remember thinking that it was a bs “discovery” being used by the government to cut corners for what they need to provide people in a tough economy.  Thus, this news that a government-sponsored program cut back mammograms is no surprise, but it makes me nervous for the women who depend on these programs for health care and who could have gotten checked in time to catch breast cancer.  I wonder if those scientists can sleep at night.