Idaho House passes breast cancer screening bill
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - The Idaho House of Representatives has passed a bill to help detect breast cancer earlier.
House Bill 134 requires health insurance plans, including private ones, to cover supplemental breast cancer screening for women considered high-risk.
The bill passed the house with a 62-6 vote. The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration.
"Not without heartache."
Introduced by Rep. Brooke Green, the intent of HB-134 is to provide medical coverage and access to MRI's, ultrasound, contrast, mammograms to persons with a heightened risk for breast cancer.
"Either they have the Brackett gene, they have the family history [of cancer], or they have a lifetime risk score of over 20," Green told members of the Idaho House.
Green presented the bill while undergoing cancer treatment.
"I bring this bill forward not without heartache," said Green. "Back in July, just two weeks prior to an embryo transfer to grow my family. I woke up one evening and had an urgent need to get a mammogram...Unfortunately, I received the devastating news that I have breast cancer."
Green told members of the House that the news shattered her family's desires and hopes to have another baby, but it became incredibly apparent that "in Idaho, our women who are of high risk are forgoing necessary treatment because of costs."
Idaho ranks 50th in the United States in screening for women, according to the Cancer Data Registry of Idaho. Green says that removing the barrier to additional screenings "ensures that our high-risk women and men get the necessary coverage."
On Mondays, the Idaho House wears pink
Several members of the Idaho House spoke in favor of the bill, out of whom 3 wore pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Representative Green and other members of the House acknowledged the gesture and thanked the representatives for their support.
The majority of the testimony in favor of HB-134 argued that "cancer prevention" was more fiscal responsibility for the Gem State.
"Currently, there are other insurance companies that I've reached out to and talked to..." Rep. Josh Tanner told members of the House. "But this [additional screening coverage] is something that they already have in place. They are already seeing that there's a mass savings by doing it. Because if they catch one, it's actually covers them from cost for five years, testing everybody else that they that met this requirement on their plan."
