But the American Cancer Society hopes to start turning that around this year by asking the Legislature for $2.5 million to boost screenings for the state's poor and uninsured - and, in a second tactic, allow proceeds from a new license plate to support screening awareness campaigns.
The statistics "should just jump right out and grab people," said Michael Siler, director of government relations for the ACS' Great West Division. "Breast cancer is the No. 1 killer of women in Utah and yet we [Utah] are the fourth lowest for screening."
An estimated 23,510 Utah women are eligible for free breast and cervical cancer screenings through the Utah Cancer Control Program. Candidates are between the ages of 40 and 49, live at 250 percent of the federal poverty level and don't have health insurance.
State funds, however, only allow for 1,548 women - or 6.6 percent of those eligible - to get mammograms and pap smears each year, Siler said.
Kathryn Rowley, director of the UCCP, said health departments and community health centers that do the screenings inevitably turn away women each year, though how many she can't be sure.
"We're very tight," she said.
Under a bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, however, the program would receive an infusion of $1.5 million to offer cancer screenings to another 4,545 women.
Another $800,000 would go toward paying for colorectal screenings for 615 more Utahns; there are an estimated 37,910 men and women eligible because they are between ages 50 and 64, live at the federal poverty line and don't have health insurance.
A separate proposal sponsored by Rep. Carol Moss, D-Holladay, would create a license plate featuring a purple cancer-awareness ribbon, Siler said. The proceeds would go to the Utah Department of Health to develop electronic and printed cancer-screening-awareness campaigns.
Siler said improving Utah's cancer screening record could help save money - and lives.
* Cervical cancer: The National Cancer Institute's most recent statistics show that fewer women get pap smears here than in any other state. About 74 percent of Utah women 18 and older have had the screening for cervical cancer within the past three years, while the national average is 84.2 percent.
* Breast cancer: Slightly more than 68 percent of Utah women who are 40 or older have had a mammogram within the past two years, compared with 74.4 percent nationally.
* Colorectal cancer: While 52.3 percent of Utahns age 50 or older got a colorectal screening within the past five years - ranking the state 35th - many did not get one soon enough.
Of those who got colorectal cancer, 59 percent were diagnosed at the late stage.
"We're not 100 percent certain why folks don't get screened as they should," Siler said, "but we do know that people of lower income without health insurance are less likely to get recommended screenings. And we know that if they are ultimately diagnosed with cancer it is usually at late-stage."
Siler said there is also a lack of knowledge about the types of cancer screenings available, recommended ages to get screenings and, for those who are insured, about the level of insurance available to pay screening costs.
"The additional screenings that result from the funding will save lives, decrease suffering and reduce health care and insurance costs for all of us," he said.
lrosetta@sltrib.com
