January 24, 2008
Disparities in Mammogram Use
Reuters is reporting that paying as little as $12 for a mammogram may deter some women from getting the test.
Screening rates from 2001 through 2004 were nearly 11 percent lower for women who had to contribute a co-pay as low as $12, compared to women whose mammograms were free, researchers from Brown and Harvard universities found.
"It would make clinical sense, and probably economic sense, for a health plan to eliminate a co-payment for a mammogram,"[Dr. Amal Trivedi of Brown] said.
The complete study can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine.