Judy Baker and Congresswoman Lois Capps visits the James E. Cary Cancer Center in Hannibal.

Judy Baker, candidate for Congress in Missouri’s Ninth Congressional District, set out on a tour to set out an agenda to expand research and treatment of cancer and other deadly diseases today with stops in Columbia and Hannibal. Baker was joined by Congresswoman Lois Capps, a registered nurse and co-chair of the Congressional Cancer Caucus, to tell voters how they will change the failed policies Washington has developed over the last eight years.

“When I get to Congress, I will use my expertise, over 20 years, to reform our health care system. We will expand research for our deadliest diseases, increase prevention care and make cancer a word for the history books,” Baker said. “We will properly fund the National Institutes of Health after years of underfunding an agency that is a symbol of the good government can do. We will eliminate the co-pay women on Medicare are charged for mammograms, saving lives and money by catching disease early. And if a woman is diagnosed, we will end the practice of drive-by mastectomies so that medical professionals, not insurance companies decide what is best.”

Baker also said the issue was very personal. Baker’s mother and two aunts are both breast cancer survivors because of the early detection through a mammogram. Baker’s opponent, Blaine Luetkemeyer, sponsored legislation that would allow insurance companies to drop coverage for mammograms and other preventive screenings.

Baker would support greater expansion of the NIH and National Cancer Institute. Both agencies have been recently seen level funding and the approval rate for scientists working on life-saving research have fell to under 20 percent. The NIH is responsible for funding more than 35 percent of the total medical research in America and is less than a percent of the federal budget. This is an agency responsible for the Human Genome Project, potential vaccines for Ebola and West Nile Virus and discoveries that help treat depression.

Baker would also sign onto to a bill that would eliminate the co-pay charged by Medicare for mammograms. Women and men pay small co-pays and many times none at all on other medical screenings. But 22 million women rely on Medicare for basic health care, including mammograms that cost a 20 percent co-pay. Requiring even a small co-payment dramatically reduces the likelihood that women will get regular mammograms to detect breast cancer, researchers at Brown University reported earlier this year.

Finally, Baker will put the decisions about post-operative care in the hands of medical professionals, not insurance companies. Sixty-five percent of the 125,000 patients that undergo the procedure are sent home within 24 hours. This unsafe practice is driven by financial decisions, not sound medical advice.