Don't Restrict Access to Mammograms
Final signature count: 39,665
Sponsor: The Breast Cancer Site
Tell the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that new USPSTF recommendations must not restrict access to mammograms!
Mammograms reduce breast cancer deaths by an average of 15%. New recommendations against routine mammograms for women aged 40-49 have been issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Other major health care providers, including the American Cancer Society, disagree with the new recommendations.
Tell state insurance regulators not to allow insurance companies to restrict access to mammograms. Sign the petition & tell a friend today!
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is a group of elected or appointed state regulators who work to fairly determine what procedures insurance companies are required by law to cover. Regulation of health insurance coverage, including coverage of preventive care like mammograms, occurs primarily at the state level.
The fierce debate currently going on regarding the new USPSTF recommendations against mammograms for women aged 40-49 only serves to emphasize the fact that the NAIC must use its powers to protect the public interest. The association must not use these new recommendations as an excuse to allow insurance companies to restrict preventive care for women under the age of 50, or over the age of 74.
All women should have access to preventive care, including mammograms. Whether and when to have a mammogram should be a personal decision, informed by the advice of a woman's own doctor and her personal and family medical history. But if insurance does not cover the cost of the mammogram, prohibitive costs will prevent many women from being able to make that decision based on her medical needs.
Don't let insurance companies restrict access to mammograms for women under 50. Sign the petition and tell a friend today.
The Petition:
Dear National Association of Insurance Commissioners
In spite of the recent controversy regarding whether routine mammograms should be given to women aged 40-49, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society, as well as countless other experts, agree that mammograms reduce the rate of death due to breast cancer by an average of fifteen percent.
We, your constituents, ask that you prevent recent USPSTF recommendations from being used to restrict access to mammograms for women. Your decisions and legislation will help decide whether women in each state get to choose the best preventive care options with the help of their doctors, or insurance companies make that choice for them by not covering appropriate care.
Please make your own recommendations wisely. Do not allow insurance companies to restrict access to life-saving mammograms. Let patient and doctor decide what preventive care is appropriate and necessary.
Sincerely,
