Some United States lawmakers are not happy with U.S. Preventative Services Task Force's (USPSTF) new recommendations to raise the suggested breast cancer screening age for women, through routine mammograms, from 40 to 50.
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) called the new recommendation “reckless and irresponsible.”
“At the age of nine, my wife Wendy lost her mother to breast cancer, a loss which impacts our family each and every day,” Vitter said. “The recommendation could lead to dropped insurance coverage, dramatically increasing costs for women. Unfortunately, this is just another example of how the so-called ‘Affordable Care Act’ is limiting access to quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans.”
Vitter and some other lawmakers maintain that the age increase could make it harder for women in their 40s to get breast cancer screenings, as they might not be covered by their insurance policies.
Currently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends women from 40 to 49 receive a mammogram once every two years. USPSTF, backed by President Obama, submitted the new recommendations to HHS this past April.
In May, Vitter joined Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) in penning a letter to HHS decrying the new recommendations. More than 50 other members of Congress signed the letter.
The following month, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell responded to the letter, saying she had forwarded it to the HHS Task Force.
