Foundation Supports Bill to Remove Unexpected Costs of Colorectal Cancer Screenings
Advocacy - Imagine you are a senior citizen who has made the wise decision to have a colonoscopy procedure to test for colorectal cancer. You go into the hospital thinking screening costs will be covered under Medicare and you will not be charged coinsurance. When you wake up, you learn a polyp was discovered and removed. It was found early and removed before it became cancerous so you are relieved… until you get your bill. You now have a coinsurance charge of $100 to $300. Due to a glitch in current health care law, your “screening” has now become classified as “therapeutic” or “diagnostic” under Medicare’s billing codes, requiring you to pay for that procedure. Recognizing this unexpected “Catch – 22” situation, U.S. Representative Charlie Dent (R-PA) has introduced the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2013 (HR 1070) as a resolution to this problem. This legislation would ensure that 100 percent of the costs of cancer screening are covered under Medicare Part B, and that older Americans are not subject to unexpected cost sharing provisions if polyps are removed during a colonoscopy. The Prevent Cancer Foundation supports this legislation and applauds Rep. Dent and the original co-sponsors of the bill: Reps. ...
