The short answer
The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening to women with low incomes who do not have adequate insurance. Congress created it in 1990, and the CDC funds 71 award recipients that run it locally. It also funds diagnostic services and patient navigation.
The program provides free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening to women who qualify.
It is aimed at women with low incomes who do not have adequate insurance.
Breast services listed include mammograms, screening MRI, clinical breast exams and diagnostic services.
Cervical services listed include Pap tests, HPV tests and diagnostic services.
Choose how you want to understand this
The full explanation.
A program built for a specific gap
Screening only helps people who can get to it. Cost stops a lot of people.
That is the gap this program was built to close. The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening to women who qualify. The CDC describes who it is for in plain terms: women with low incomes who do not have adequate insurance.
Congress created it through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act of 1990. The CDC says it has helped millions of women get breast and cervical cancer screening tests.
What it actually pays for
The program is not only about the first test. The CDC describes it as funding screening, diagnostic and treatment services, plus patient navigation.
For cervical cancer, the listed services include Pap tests, HPV tests and diagnostic services.
For breast cancer, the listed services include mammograms, screening MRI, clinical breast exams and diagnostic services.
That word diagnostic matters more than people realize. A screening test that comes back unclear is the moment costs usually spike. This program is designed so that the follow-up is part of the package, not a surprise bill after the fact.
Someone to walk you through it
The program funds patient navigation services to help women get timely access to quality care.
In practice, a navigator is a person. They help you get an appointment. They call you about results. They make sure the next step happens instead of quietly falling off the list.
If you enroll, it is worth asking whether you have a navigator and how to reach them.
The local part
The CDC does not run the clinics. It funds 71 award recipients across the United States, and those recipients run the program on the ground.
Congress widened that reach over time. In 1993, funding authorization was extended to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations.
This is why there is no single national application. Your program is a state, tribal, or territorial program. It sets its own local details within the federal framework.
To find yours, the CDC's page carries a locator called Find a Screening Program Near You, and lists 800-232-4636 as a contact line. Numbers and tools change, so confirm the current details on their site.
What the program can do for you today
It can get you screened when cost is the obstacle. If you are uninsured or underinsured and overdue, this is the most direct federal answer that exists.
It can cover the follow-up. Diagnostic services are part of what the program funds, so an unclear mammogram does not have to become an unaffordable workup.
It can assign you a human. Navigation is funded, and a navigator can save you weeks.
And it can open a treatment door. In 2000 Congress enabled states to offer Medicaid-funded treatment for cancers diagnosed through the program, and comparable provisions exist for American Indian and Alaska Native women served through the Indian Health Service or tribal organizations. If cancer is found through this program, ask immediately about that pathway.
What the program cannot do
It cannot serve everyone. It is targeted. If you have adequate insurance or your income is above the local threshold, you are outside its purpose, and that is by design.
It is not an insurance plan. It is a screening and early detection program with specific services attached. It does not cover your general health care.
It cannot cover cancers it is not about. The name is the scope: breast and cervical. A different concern needs a different program.
It cannot promise a slot. Local programs work with finite funding and finite appointment capacity.
It cannot set its own rules nationally. Income limits, age ranges and covered specifics are handled locally, so only the local program can tell you where you stand.
And it cannot give you medical advice. Whether a particular test is right for you is a conversation with a clinician.
The most useful thing you can do
Call the local program before you decide you do not qualify.
People rule themselves out constantly. They assume their income is too high, or that having some insurance disqualifies them, or that the program only exists somewhere else. The staff answering the phone can settle all of that in one conversation.
Ask three questions. Do I qualify? What will I owe? And if something shows up, what does the program cover next?
Words to know
Tap any term to see what it means.
Common questions
Is the screening really free?
The CDC describes it as free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening for women who qualify. What you pay, if anything, depends on the local program, so ask them directly.
Who qualifies?
The program is described as serving women with low incomes who do not have adequate insurance. The exact income and insurance rules are set and applied locally, so the local program has to tell you.
What tests does it cover?
For breast cancer, the CDC lists mammograms, screening MRI, clinical breast exams and diagnostic services. For cervical cancer, it lists Pap tests, HPV tests and diagnostic services.
What happens if something is found?
The program funds diagnostic services as well as screening. States can also refer eligible women diagnosed through the program to Medicaid-covered treatment, a pathway Congress enabled in 2000.
How do I find a program near me?
The CDC's page includes a locator tool called Find a Screening Program Near You, and lists 800-232-4636 as a contact number. Check the current details on their site.
Does it serve American Indian and Alaska Native women?
Congress extended funding authorization to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations in 1993, and similar treatment referral provisions apply for women served through the Indian Health Service or tribal organizations.
What is patient navigation?
The program funds navigation services to help women get timely access to quality care, meaning someone helps with scheduling, follow-up and getting through the steps.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Sources last checked: 2026-09-03 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-03Next planned review: 2027-09-03
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How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Editorial review complete — This page completed Cancer Explained's editorial checks (sources, safety, plain language, duplication). It has not been reviewed by a physician or other healthcare professional.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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