Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare Proposes To Cover Lung Cancer Scans For Heavy Smokers
NPR: Medicare Poised To Cover CT Scans To Screen For Lung Cancer
The evidence has been piling up that properly done CT scans can help doctors find tiny lung tumors in longtime smokers while the cancer can still be treated effectively. Now Medicare is proposing to pay for annual scans for beneficiaries at a high risk for lung cancer. To qualify, patients would have to first meet with a doctor to talk through the pros and cons of scans, which involve a low-dose of radiation. (Hensley, 11/11)
NBC News: Medicare Plans To Pay For Lung Cancer Screening
Medicare plans to start paying for lung cancer screening for people at high risk, a move that advocates say could save thousands of lives every year by catching the disease earlier. ... Many private insurers already pay for lung cancer screening. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that heavy smokers who are at least 55 should have an annual CT scan to check for lung cancer. The recommendations could apply to about 9 million Americans. (Fox, 11/10)
Reuters: Medicare Proposes Covering Lung Cancer Scans For Heavy Smokers
Screening for lung cancer with CT scans is not currently covered under the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. Current and former smokers age 55 to 74 who show no signs of lung disease but meet criteria for tobacco smoking history would be eligible for an annual low-dose computed tomography scan as a preventive service benefit, said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees Medicare. (Kelly, 11/10)
The Associated Press: Medicare Proposes Covering Lung Cancer Screening
Lung cancer kills nearly 160,000 Americans a year, in part because tumors aren't usually detected early enough for treatment to stand a good chance. A major study found low-dose CT scans of the lungs of people at especially high risk could cut their chances of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent. Last December, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended the test for certain people ages 55 to 80 who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years, or the equivalent. Under the Affordable Care Act, that meant private insurers had to begin covering the screening. (Neergaard, 11/11)
Kaiser Health News: Medicare Proposes Coverage Of Low-Dose CT Scans To Detect Lung Cancer
Andrea Borondy Kitt’s husband Dan lived for a year and a half after his October 2011 lung cancer diagnosis. She’s convinced, however, that he might have lived longer had Medicare paid for a low-dose CT scan of his lungs that could have caught his cancer in the early stages. Nine months before his diagnosis, Andrea read about this test, which had demonstrated encouraging rates of detecting early stage lung-cancers in long-time smokers. She wanted Dan to be screened. But her husband, a 40-year smoker who had quit eleven years earlier, wouldn’t do it because Medicare didn’t cover it. In a Monday announcement, Medicare officials signaled this policy is about to change. (Gillespie, 11/11)
