Everyone is talking about – national and local news, radio, tv…. The American Cancer Society has published new guidelines that require a select group of women, to get mammorgrams and MRIs for early breast cancer detection. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032702326.html.
What women should fall into this select group? Women at high risk because of a family history of disease, the breast cancer gene (a genetic predisposition). The ACS anticipates this will include as many as 1.6 million women in the United States that fall into this high-risk category.
So my first thought was, “great, guidelines are good” but “will insurance pay for the extra testing?” I know of family friends that have not gotten tested to see whether they have the family gene for fear that a positive will prevent them from having future insurance coverage – so will the companies pay for the MRIs? I sure hope so. Guess only time will tell… and what about women with No insurance – that is a pricey test for someone having to pay cash.