Some diseases make no distinction between gender. Each year, hundreds of thousands of men and women will be diagnosed with several types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other debilitating — and sometimes fatal — diseases.
Add breast cancer to the list. Although it is most commonly found in women, men can and do develop breast cancer, including one South Carolina man who was denied Medicaid coverage for treatment because of his gender.
While breast cancer in men is rare, it does happen. And it did happen to Raymond Johnson, a Charleston-area construction worker. Although male breast cancer usually affects men 60 to 70 years old, Johnson is only 26. But other risk factors besides age exist, according to the Mayo Clinic, among them an unhealthy level of alcohol use, exposure to estrogen (sometimes used in hormone therapy for prostate cancer), family history of breast cancer, liver disease, obesity (increasing the number of fat cells that convert androgens into estrogen) and exposure to radiation through treatments for cancers in the chest area.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and 1st District Congressman Tim Scott told The Post and Courier of Charleston that if administrative changes to allow Johnson’s coverage fail, both will support efforts to change Medicaid rules to close the loophole that limits treatment coverage to women.
Men diagnosed with male breast cancer at an early stage have a good chance for a cure, according to doctors at the Mayo Clinic. Still, many men delay seeing their doctors if they notice unusual signs or symptoms, such as a breast lump. Whether it is disbelief that a man can get breast cancer or unwarranted embarrassment on the part of the patient, many male breast cancers aren’t diagnosed until the disease is more advanced.
The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health reports that while breast cancer in men is comparatively rare when compared to the disease in women, there will be an estimated 2,140 new cases in the United States this year. Almost 450 of those men will die. As with all cancers, early detection is key. Apparently the ability to pay for screenings and treatment is a factor as well.
Patients with private insurance — from all racial/ethnic groups — are more likely to be diagnosed early, according to the American Cancer Society. Although 89 percent of patients with private insurance survived five years, only 77 percent of the uninsured and 75 percent of Medicaid patients passed the five-year mark.
Even if there is an administrative fix in Johnson’s case, the rules should be changed so as not to deny coverage in the future on the basis of gender.
