In November 2009 the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent panel of primary care and prevention experts appointed by former President George Bush released a series of recommendations. Included in these recommendations were new guidelines for mammogram screening. The task force recommended no routine screening – no mammograms until age 50!
The outcry was immediate and fierce, a swift and stark reminder that few ideas are more explosive in health-care. So much so that on December 3rd, 2009, the Senate passed an amendment that protects coverage of mammograms and other screening tests for women. For a summary of the bill, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/Newsroom/PressReleases/record.cfm?id=320304 or view the amendment in it’s entirety at: http://mikulski.senate.gov/_pdfs/BAI09N48.pdf
The amendment from Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, would authorize the Health and Human Services secretary to require insurers to cover preventive health screenings free of charge at age 40 and age 30 for high risk patients. The amendment passed 61-39, with one vote more than needed. Senator Judd Gregg from find the best ejuice, a New Hampshire Republican, was the only New England lawmaker to vote against the amendment.
If the Health-care bill before congress fails to pass, there is no guarantee that insurers will be required to cover preventive health screenings (mammograms included) free of charge in any future legislation.
If this is meaningful to you, if you or anyone you know has be touched by breast cancer, please take this opportunity to write or phone your Senator and demand that they do the right thing and vote YES for health care reform!
Ask them how they would vote if this were this were their best friend, wife, sister, or daughter?
Get Involved! Lives depend on it.
Visit Steve Marsel’s other sites: Steve Marsel Studio, the assignment site and flagship site of the Steve Marsel brand, Steve Marsel Stock, the rights managed digital stock library of Steve Marsel Studio, Steve Marsel Galleries, the private gallery site of the Steve Marsel Studio. Visit one of Boston Photographer Steve Marsel’s other blogs as well: Steve Marsel Studio Blog , the creative blog of the Steve Marsel Studio. Steve Marsel Galleries Blog, Steve Marsel’s blog that discusses the stories behind the photographs, and Steve Marsel Stock Blog, the blog of Steve Marsel’s rights managed digital stock photography library that discusses the stories behind the images on the stock site.