(KTVI - FOX2now.com) -
The dispute over what age to get a mammogram has women over 40 trying to figure out whose advice to follow. They're also wondering whether their insurance companies will pay for the procedure if they continue to get one annually. The situation is down right maddening, upsetting, and confusing. But one thing is clear, if a woman wants a mammogram and she has coverage through an insurance company licensed by the state she will get one.
Forty-one-year-old Dawn Dreppard feels secure getting a mammogram every year. She wonders whether her insurance company will continue to pay for the procedure, if she continues to get one annually.
"If you can afford it you can still get it done, but for people who can't afford to get one then the breast cancer would progress and we wouldn't have the treatment that we needed early enough."
A government task force says most women in their forties don't need mammograms and should wait until they're fifty, then get one every two years. That's a surprising break from the American Cancer Society's recommendation which advises women to get a mammogram every year starting at age forty,
"This is going to be hard for people to accept and to understand", said Sr. Suzzane Mahon, a genetics counselor at Saint Louis University's Cancer Center.
Dr. Mahon says about 17 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women diagnosed in their forties, and 22 percent were in women in their fifties. She says it's important for women to know their risk factors.
"If they're of average risk they need to understand that the potential benefits of mammography are that it might find something when it's very early and it's more easily treated and the treatment is more likely to be effective," says Dr. Mahon.
When it comes to whether insurance will cover mammograms, it doesn't matter whether women start getting them at forty or fifty. In either case, they're covered in Illinois and in the Show Me State.
"Missouri law is very clear that women have the right to have their insurance companies cover the cost of mammograms starting at age thirty-five," said Travis Ford, the spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Insurance.
Dawn Drepperd says her mind is made up, "I'm going to continue to get my mammograms yearly."
The American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Foundation and medical experts who spoke with FOX 2 all say women over forty should continue to get a mammogram every year.
Forty-one-year-old Dawn Dreppard feels secure getting a mammogram every year. She wonders whether her insurance company will continue to pay for the procedure, if she continues to get one annually.
"If you can afford it you can still get it done, but for people who can't afford to get one then the breast cancer would progress and we wouldn't have the treatment that we needed early enough."
A government task force says most women in their forties don't need mammograms and should wait until they're fifty, then get one every two years. That's a surprising break from the American Cancer Society's recommendation which advises women to get a mammogram every year starting at age forty,
"This is going to be hard for people to accept and to understand", said Sr. Suzzane Mahon, a genetics counselor at Saint Louis University's Cancer Center.
Dr. Mahon says about 17 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women diagnosed in their forties, and 22 percent were in women in their fifties. She says it's important for women to know their risk factors.
"If they're of average risk they need to understand that the potential benefits of mammography are that it might find something when it's very early and it's more easily treated and the treatment is more likely to be effective," says Dr. Mahon.
When it comes to whether insurance will cover mammograms, it doesn't matter whether women start getting them at forty or fifty. In either case, they're covered in Illinois and in the Show Me State.
"Missouri law is very clear that women have the right to have their insurance companies cover the cost of mammograms starting at age thirty-five," said Travis Ford, the spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Insurance.
Dawn Drepperd says her mind is made up, "I'm going to continue to get my mammograms yearly."
The American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Foundation and medical experts who spoke with FOX 2 all say women over forty should continue to get a mammogram every year.
