Virginia the latest to pass legislation bolstering coverage for supplemental breast imaging
Virginia is the latest state to pass legislation requiring health insurers to cover supplemental breast imaging.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed House Bill 1828/Senate Bill 1436 into law following their passage by state legislators. The measure eliminates out-of-pocket costs for follow-up breast MRI and ultrasounds, which sometimes can reach $1,000, previous studies have found.
Breast cancer advocacy group Susan G. Komen applauded the bills’ passage on Tuesday.
“We commend the legislature and Gov. Youngkin for eliminating barriers to essential care so that people with state-regulated health plans are able to receive their medically necessary diagnostic and supplemental imaging without the financial burden of high patient cost sharing,” Molly Guthrie, VP of policy and advocacy at SGK, said in a statement.
Including Virginia, 29 states have now passed legislation to address this coverage gap, SGK said, with Massachusetts doing so in November. Others have recently proposed expanded insurance coverage for breast imaging including Florida, New York, North Carolina and Texas, Dense Breast Info reported March 9.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.