According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), it may no longer be necessary for women in their 40s to have regular mammograms to detect breast cancer. This is a shift in guidelines as the organization cites certain risks that outweigh the benefits for women under the age of 50.
Women in their 40s, say the guidelines, should consult with their health care providers about the risks and benefits of mammograms before beginning screenings every one to two years. After age 75, women should discuss with their doctors whether to continue screenings, considering their current health and life expectancy. Previously, ACOG had recommended annual screenings for all women starting at age 40.
Access to mammograms and other preventative health services for women is of critical importance—now more than ever. About one in eight women in the US will develop breast cancer during her lifetime (12 percent). Though white women get breast cancer at higher rates than black women, the cancer death rate for black women is 60 percent higher, as black women younger than age 40 have higher incidents of breast cancer and are often diagnosed at later stages when the cancer has already spread. Breast cancer is a hideous disease and poor women and women of color are especially likely to be at-risk when access to mammograms are taken away. And who exactly is trying to take them away from women (not just poor ones and women of color but all women)? Why none other than the GOP, of course.
According to a January report, more women across all income and education levels used mammograms under Obamacare than before the health care law was enacted.
But preserving affordable access to these types of benefits doesn’t seem to be a major concern for Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). Asked on Thursday if he supported abandoning Obamacare’s essential health benefits, Roberts reportedly scoffed, “I wouldn’t want to lose my mammograms.”
Trumpcare is a nightmare. Millions would lose their health insurance, rates will go up for women and people with disabilities and it ends Medicaid as we know it. Call your Republican U.S. senator at (202) 224-3121 and give them a very angry piece of your mind. Then, tell us how it went.
In their grotesque efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare with no suitable and viable alternative, Republicans think women’s access to mammograms and reproductive health care is a joke. From their own mouths, they have repeatedly said they don’t think this kind of service is necessary, essential or important. Under their proposal for Trumpcare, they will defund Planned Parenthood. Now there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not Planned Parenthood actually provides mammograms or not.
While it is true that most of their centers offer only referrals for mammograms, they do in fact, do conduct clinical breast exams—an important part of breast cancer prevention and detection. But trying to justify eliminating funding to an organization that is vital to women’s well-being based on this point is absurd. Women deserve access to wellness and preventative care and Republicans are hell-bent on making sure we don’t have it. The new guidelines might say that women under 50 don’t need routine mammograms to test for breast cancer but under Trumpcare it won’t matter since millions of women will be without the insurance to cover them.