Amendment Requires Health Insurers to Cover Mammograms

Posted on December 8, 2009 in Business/Law, Health & Medicine, Women's Health

Senators approved an amendment on Thursday that requires health insurers to cover mammograms for women ages 40 to 49. The bipartisan amendment would eliminate copays and increase coverage for women’s preventive services.

The U.S. Preventive Task Force had previously recommended that women under 50 shouldn’t undergo routine mammograms. This would mean that insurance companies wouldn’t have to cover screening mammography for women. The panel later said that women in their 40s should start mammograms when they want, in consultation with their doctors.

The amendment came from Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican. It passed 61-39, with one more vote than needed. The Congressional Budget Office said that the amendment would add $940 million over ten years to the cost of the bill, already close to $1 trillion.