Bill to cover custom breast forms reintroduced in House
By HME News Staff
Updated 9:32 AM CDT, Thu July 27, 2023
WASHINGTON — Reps. Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, have reintroduced the bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act, which would provide Medicare coverage of custom breast prostheses to breast cancer survivors.
The bill, H.R. 4779, would allow hundreds of thousands of women each year to choose a custom prosthesis after a mastectomy.
“This is a great step forward in our efforts to expand access to life-changing health care for breast cancer survivors,” said Nikki Jensen, vice president of Essentially Women, a division of VGM. “We ask that anyone affected by breast cancer, or anyone who just feels that this is the right thing to do, to please contact their elected officials and show support for the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act.”
While Medicare covers many other post-mastectomy treatment options and other custom prosthetic devices, custom breast prostheses are not covered by Medicare because they’re considered medically unnecessary.
“During such fragile times when women are dealing with the stress and toll of invasive breast cancer, line items of their insurance coverage are the furthest things from their minds,” said Rep. Miller-Meeks. “The Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act takes away the burden of calculating the coverage for custom prosthetics and gives access to higher quality implants for patients diagnosed with invasive breast cancer that undergo a mastectomy, regardless of their income.”
For more information and to take action, visit www.peopleforqualitycare.org/letherdecide.
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