October marks National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and across the country women and men are speaking up about the need for early detection of this disease that kills a woman every 75 seconds globally. In the United States alone a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes and dies every 13 minutes.

While the threat of breast cancer is very real for both women and men in every corner of our State, the lethality of the disease is far greater for those without health insurance.

According to the American Cancer Society, mammography is a vital detection tool in indentifying breast cancer at an early, treatable stage before physical symptoms develop. This saves lives and increases treatment options. Thanks to mammograms and other medical testing, 68% of breast cancers in Ohio were diagnosed in early stages.

Unfortunately, for the over 1 million people in Ohio that don't have health insurance, access to life saving tests and treatments are expensive and out of reach. This means treatable diseases like breast cancer are often not detected until physical symptoms develop and probability of survival continues to decline.

Even those with health insurance find themselves at odds with insurance companies. During the President's address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama cited an example of a woman from Texas that was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size.

Stories like this and the millions of others like it should no longer be tolerated in the United States. We spend more on health care than any other nation, and yet, we rank near the bottom in quality of care and accessibility.

Health insurance must be accessible so that even those with pre-existing conditions have the ability to obtain health insurance and make it affordable by controlling costs and creating a public option that will create competition for insurance companies.

Take action this October - help make Ohio more aware of breast cancer and stand up for affordable and accessible health care for all.