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Banner_Prostate Cancer News

Listen: New Bill Aims to Reduce Prostate Cancer Deaths in D.C.

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Prostate cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in D.C.; 70 people in the District are expected to die from the disease in 2023 alone. It’s one of the highest per-capita fatality rates for prostate cancer in the country. 

It’s also the type of  cancer that sees the largest racial disparities. Black men in D.C. are three times more likely to die from the disease than their white counterparts. 

A new bill from Ward 6 councilmember Charles Allen aims to bring these rates down by requiring insurers to provide coverage for prostate cancer screenings — one antigen test and one rectal exam — per year. 

Research has found that access to testing is one of the primary drivers for disparities in prostate cancer outcomes, and early diagnosis is shown to drastically improve survival rates. 

WAMU’s Colleen Grablick joins Morning Edition host Esther Ciammachilli to explain Allen’s proposal.

Listen to whole report here

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Contributor

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Colleen Grablick, General Assignment Reporter

Colleen hails from Allentown, Pa., a place known for that one Billy Joel song and being “an hour-ish” from Philly. She moved to D.C. in 2016 for college and joined DCist as an intern in 2019. Now, she covers a range of topics as a DCist staff writer — from the COVID-19 pandemic to the National Zoo’s baby panda. When she’s not reporting, you can find her at home in Columbia Heights rewatching her favorite episodes of The Great British Bake Off but never actually baking anything herself, taking one million photos of her cat Mouse, or running around Rock Creek Park.

You can get in touch with Colleen at grablick@wamu.org.

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