USPSTF Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations Would Cost Thousands of Lives and Could Eliminate Mammography Insurance Coverage for Millions of Women

Adoption of draft United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations would result in thousands of additional and unnecessary breast cancer deaths each year. Thousands more women would experience more extensive and expensive treatments than if their cancers were found early by a regular mammogram. Adoption of these USPSTF recommendations could also strip millions of women 40-and-older of private insurance coverage with no copay for mammograms at the time of their choosing previously guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA requires private insurers to cover exams or procedures given a grade of “B” or higher by the USPSTF. The Task Force gave routine screening of women ages 40-49 a grade of “C” and gave a “B” grade only to biennial (every other year) screening for women 50-74. This would indicate that women ages 40-49 who choose routine screening and those 50-74 who want to be screened annually would not be guaranteed coverage. This may particularly impact underserved and rural areas. “We believe that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can clarify now whether adoption of these USPSTF recommendations would mean that private insurers no longer have to cover mammograms for millions of women 40-49 who, together with their doctor, choose to have regular mammograms and those 50-74 who choose to be screened annually. We call on her to affirm that cov...
Source: American College of Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: news