Idaho House lawmakers will consider requiring insurers to cover extra breast cancer screenings for high-risk patients under a bill heading to the floor.
Rep. Brooke Green (D-Boise), who’s been fighting breast cancer since last summer, sponsors House Bill 134. Just a handful of early detections from these extra screenings, Green said, will offset any new costs for insurance companies.
“You’re looking just at a cost of a couple hundred dollars for the additional MRI screening. My mastectomy was $137,000,” she told the House Health and Welfare Committee Monday.
Amy Manning agrees. She runs III-A, an insurer for dozens of Idaho cities and government agencies.
Manning said her organization began covering all screening costs for breast, colon and prostate cancers five years ago.
“We have a 10% decrease in number of cancers and we have a 7.5% decrease in overall cost. Our cost in treating cancer is down $2 million from last year,” Manning said.
Patients could qualify for the additional annual screening if they’re determined to be at an increased risk for breast cancer.
Those factors include a family history of breast cancer, a genetic predisposition to the disease or if a patient has dense breast tissue that’s difficult to screen with a traditional mammogram.
Idaho ranks last in the country in breast cancer screenings. One in three Idaho women hasn’t had a mammogram in the past two years, according to the Cancer Data Registry of Idaho.
Rep. Lucas Cayler (R-Caldwell) thanked doctors and cancer survivors for testifying Monday morning, saying their words “have not gone of deaf ears.”
But he said he couldn’t support the bill because of his commitment to fiscal conservatism.
“I stand opposed to legislation that expands government mandate into private healthcare,” Cayler said.
The bill now goes to the House floor for consideration.
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