Medicare To Cover Lung Cancer Screening For Those At Highest Risk
The decision takes effect immediately and applies to Medicare beneficiaries aged 55 to 77 who are smokers or who quit within the last 15 years and racked up at least 30 "pack years."
Reuters:
U.S. Approves Medicare Coverage For Lung Cancer Screening
U.S. health regulators on Thursday approved Medicare coverage for lung cancer screening by low-dose CT, the first time the government health insurance program for the elderly and disabled will pay for such a program of early detection in an effort to save lives. The decision applies to Medicare beneficiaries aged 55-77 who are current smokers or who quit within the last 15 years, and who racked up at least 30 "pack years." The latter is possible if they smoked one pack a day for 30 years, for instance, two packs a day for 15 or three packs a day for a decade. (2/5)
NBC News:
Breath of Fresh Air: Medicare to Cover Lung Cancer Screening
Medicare said Thursday it will pay for lung cancer screening for people at the highest risk — a decision advocates say will save tens of thousands of lives. (Fox, 2/5)
In other Medicare news, the cost of a permanent SGR fix soars higher -
CQ Healthbeat:
Cost Of Permanent 'Doc Fix' Surges By $30.5 Billion
The job of moving a permanent fix to Medicare’s oft-criticized physician payment formula before doctors see cuts April 1 just got harder. The price tag of a bipartisan, bicameral proposal to repeal and replace the so-called sustainable growth rate formula, or SGR, increased by $30.5 billion with the addition of another year to the budget window, compared to a projection the Congressional Budget Office released in November. (Attias, 2/5)
