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This is hugely important to your lives and the lives of your family and friends. Many of you have discussed with me the pros and cons of screening for breast cancer and the confusion being generated by our media on this topic. This confusion is, in my opinion, financially driven because the USPSTF has continued to refuse to take into consideration the up to date scientific information on breast screening for cancer and particularly mammography. Unfortunately the media always quote this scientifically flawed USPTFS opinion which is based on information from the 1980's.
On Monday, January 11, 2016, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published final recommendations on breast cancer screening in the Annals of Internal Medicine despite recent legislation blocking their implementation. The USPSTF also disregarded feedback from clinicians and patients as their final recommendations mirrored their draft version issued last April. Most importantly, they failed to adequately consider the lives of thousands of women in their forties.
Dr. Daniel Kopans, Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, writing to oppose the new USPSTF recommendations notes that "using the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Network Models (CISNET) it is estimated that if women now in their thirties were to follow the USPSTF guidelines, and wait until age 50 to be screened every two years, there will be as many as 100,000 lives that will be lost that could have been saved by annual screening starting at the age of 40."
The USPSTF recommendation won't impact patient insurance coverage.
While these new recommendations will unfortunately create more confusion for women, in the end, the USPSTF recommendation will not impact patient care or patient insurance coverage requirements for a mammography screening exam.
To protect women, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 in late December that ensures coverage for screening mammography will remain the same through 2017. Women 40 years and older enrolled in most health insurance plans will continue to be covered for screening mammography without copays, coinsurance or deductibles, the same way they are today. If a woman 40 years and older and her doctor determine that a mammogram is appropriate, she will not have to pay out of pocket for the exam.
Dr. Nancy Lee, Director of the Office on Women's Health at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, reiterated this in her Mammograms Are Still Covered blog to "make clear that that coverage requirements for mammograms have not changed."
Thank you for ending the confusion by supporting the PALS Act.
Mammogram and ultrasound screening saves lives. 50 years ago if you were diagnosed with breast cancer you died of breast cancer 50% of the time. Today if your breast cancer is found on a screening mammogram your chance of dying of it is less than 15% and that statistic includes all the most aggressive cancers in our youngest women. Screening saves women lives! Please help clarify the confusion!
Fondly
Belinda Barclay-White
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