Idaho House lawmakers easily passed a bill Monday morning requiring insurance companies to cover enhanced breast cancer screenings for high-risk patients.
Coverage for the extra screenings would apply to patients with a family history of breast cancer, a genetic predisposition to the disease or those with dense breast tissue. Those could include a contrast-enhanced mammogram, an ultrasound or an MRI.
“The cost of this MRI is absolutely inexpensive compared to the cost of the mastectomies, the lumpectomies, the chemotherapy, the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one,” said Rep. Dori Healey (R-Boise), one of the bill’s lead sponsors.
Rep. Brooke Green (D-Boise), who’s currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, said her surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments cost more than $500,000.
Rep. Faye Thompson (R-McCall) underwent a breast MRI 10 years ago. It revealed three extra tumors a 3-D mammogram and ultrasound didn’t detect.
“Without this early detection, I would not be here today,” said Thompson. “It’s very expensive and the fact that insurance companies don’t help cover this is, I think, very, very sad.”
Costs for a breast MRI can vary widely depending on a patient’s location and whether insurance covers any part of the imaging. Those can range between a few hundred dollars to more than $1,000 out-of-pocket.
“Prevention is significantly better fiscal responsibility for our state and so anything that kind of gets in front of these kind (sic) of things I think is an excellent idea,” said Rep. Jordan Redman (R-Coeur d’Alene).
None of the six state representatives who voted against the bill, all Republicans, spoke in opposition.
One of them, Rep. Lucas Cayler (R-Caldwell), previously said during the proposal’s committee hearing he couldn’t support it because of a philosophical opposition to regulating companies in a free market system.
State senators will consider the bill next.
Copyright 2025 Boise State Public Radio
