{"id":4599,"date":"2024-04-19T13:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2024-04-19T13:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T13:27:08","slug":"some-older-women-need-extra-breast-scans-why-wont-medicare-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=4599","title":{"rendered":"Some Older Women Need Extra Breast Scans. Why Won\u2019t Medicare Pay?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mammography can miss tumors in women with dense breasts, so their doctors often include ultrasound or M.R.I. scans. Patients often wind up paying the bill. <\/p>\n

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Mammograms can miss tumors in women with dense breast tissue. So for these patients, doctors often include a second scan \u2014 ultrasound, for example, or an M.R.I. \u2014 which are more likely to turn up cancers at early stages. <\/p>\n

But some older patients are running into an unexpected twist. Though many women see the extra scan as a routine form of prevention, Medicare won\u2019t pay for it, and some patients are left to pick up a hefty tab. <\/p>\n

Joellen Sommer, 66, who lives in Manhattan, went for her annual breast cancer screening in March. But the clinic\u2019s staff said that while her mammogram would be fully covered by Medicare, a so-called supplemental ultrasound was not.<\/p>\n

Ms. Sommer has dense breasts, and a family history of breast cancer. She said she has received mammograms and ultrasound imaging throughout her adult life. <\/span>\u201cI just don\u2019t understand how something that has been the recommended diagnostic test for years is suddenly not covered by Medicare,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cMy mother had breast cancer, my aunt had breast cancer \u2014 I guess that\u2019s not enough,\u201d she added. \u201cI wonder if it was a test for men, if the same issue would arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenox Hill Radiology in New York City has started warning patients that if they are insured by Medicare, they may be on the hook for up to $450 if they receive a breast ultrasound, even if breast tissue is known to be dense and the extra scan is performed on the same day as a screening mammogram. <\/p>\n

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Mammography can miss tumors in women with dense breasts, so their doctors often include ultrasound or M.R.I. scans. Patients often wind up paying the bill. Mammograms can miss tumors in women with dense breast tissue. So for these patients, doctors often include a second scan \u2014 ultrasound, for example, or an M.R.I. \u2014 which are more likely to turn up cancers at early stages. But some older patients are running into an unexpected twist. Though many women see the extra scan as a routine form of prevention, Medicare won\u2019t pay for it, and some patients are left to pick up a hefty tab. Joellen Sommer, 66, who lives in Manhattan, went for her annual breast cancer screening in March. But the clinic\u2019s staff said that while her mammogram would be fully covered by Medicare, a so-called supplemental ultrasound was not.Ms. Sommer has dense breasts, and a family history of breast cancer. She said she has received mammograms and ultrasound imaging throughout her adult life. \u201cI just don\u2019t understand how something that has been the recommended diagnostic test for years is suddenly not covered by Medicare,\u201d she said.\u201cMy mother had breast cancer, my aunt had breast cancer \u2014 I guess that\u2019s not enough,\u201d she added. \u201cI wonder if it was a test for men, if the same issue would arise.\u201dLenox Hill Radiology in New York City has started warning patients that if they are insured by Medicare, they may be on the hook for up to $450 if they receive a breast ultrasound, even if breast tissue is known to be dense and the extra scan is performed on the same day as a screening mammogram. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4601,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4602,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4599\/revisions\/4602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}