Boozman Urges Support for Prostate Cancer Screening Bill at HELP Committee Hearing

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) was invited by Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) to rally support for his bipartisan initiative that would increase access to prostate cancer screenings.

Boozman reflected on the widespread impact prostate cancer has on American families, such as his own, and highlighted his legislation with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), the PSA Screening for Him Act to require private health insurance plans to cover preventive prostate cancer screenings without imposing any cost-sharing requirements for men who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer.

The Boozman-Booker legislation has earned support from leading prostate cancer advocacy organizations including the American Urological Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and ZERO Prostate Cancer, which recently recognized Boozman as a 2026 Prostate Cancer Champion.

His full remarks are available below:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you to the entire committee, for hosting this Member Day hearing.

I think it is an excellent idea

This is a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness about policy solutions that the Senate is actively pursuing to address issues that impact Americans' everyday health.

Today, I would like to speak about an issue that unfortunately affects many Americans, including my family - in fact, everybody in this room has probably had somebody, a friend, a loved one that is affected - that Congress canact on to save lives and curb growing health care costs: increasing access to prostate cancer screenings.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths for men in the U.S., with African American men as well as men with a family history being disproportionately affected.

The Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men Act is legislation that we're proud to lead with Senator Booker to expand insurance coverage for lifesaving screenings for men who are at high risk.

Importantly, our bill does so without imposing cost-sharing requirements.

The PSA test is a proven and effective tool for detection.

When caught in the early stage, prostate cancer is almost 100 percent survivable. Unfortunately, the survival rate plummets to about 37 percent when discovered in later stage.

Too many men still delay getting their PSA levels checked, so it is important we lower barriers to care for high-risk men, including financial barriers such as co-pays, deductibles and co-insurance.

Not only can this save lives, but we will also save the American health care system dollars down the road.

Preventive medicine, such as early screenings for individuals who need it most, is one of the tools in our toolbox that will help tackle chronic diseases and improve the quality of life for patients.

It is vital for policy to keep pace with advances in medical screening technology, and this bipartisan bill is not about democrats or republicans - this is about all of us helping our neighbors.

Click play to view the video or follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72GAMnymCYk

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