Medical professionals have urged annual mammograms for many women as a means to prevent breast cancer. But for women who have denser breast tissue, those mammograms might not be enough to detect cancer at its earliest stages. So, Ohio lawmakers want to change laws to make sure women in that situation have better breast screenings.
Republican State Rep Jean Schmidt says sometimes cancer is not detected with a simple mammogram in women with dense breast tissue. And though advanced follow-up screenings could help do that, many women don’t get them because they are not covered by their health care plans. So her billwould require insurers to cover the cost of advanced breast cancer screening technology that is available to women with dense breast tissue.
“We have the advanced technology to identify cancer at its earliest stage. This bill will make sure we are using it,” Schmidt says.
The bill passed the House unanimously. It now goes to the Senate for its approval.
