Access to Mammography - a potential real concern for low-income women

A United States government study suggests that low-income women who are treated under free mammography screening may be bearing some personal costs to have the procedure.

In the United States, a government funded project known as the “National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program” helps in covering the costs of cervical and Breast cancer tests for women. These women are usually at or below two hundred and fifty percent of the federal defined poverty line.

But the paradox is that the study indicates that merely thirteen percent of the total women eligible for mammograms under this scheme actually get one done. This shortfall is the most likely reason contributing to the ever increasing mammography gap between the uninsured and insured women.

One of the potential reason that ninety percent eligible women are not getting mammograms done under this federal scheme is because of the fact that though the test is free of cost, women still end up incurring high personal costs. Such personal costs include the costs of transportation or the cost of child care and this also includes lost wages arising because of taking time off from their work.

By Jennifer Larson
radRounds.com Writer
October 14, 2008