Obamacare to cover breast cancer prevention drugs

[babylonsister]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/09/1268351/-Obamacare-to-cover-breast-cancer-prevention-nbsp-drugs#


Thu Jan 09, 2014 at 08:44 AM PST
Obamacare to cover breast cancer prevention drugs

by Joan McCarter

There the White House goes again, you can hear the GOP say, pandering to the lady parts.


WASHINGTON -- Certain medications that are intended to prevent breast cancer will be fully covered under Obamacare, in new guidance set to be issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday morning.

Women at increased risk of breast cancer can receive so-called chemoprevention drugs, including tamoxifen and raloxifene, without a co-pay or other out-of-pocket expense.

Snark aside, this is an important addition to the range of preventive services provided under the new law, added on the recommendation of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. That's the independent group of physicians and academics created to provide recommendations on what preventive services will be most critical to provide. That includes cancer screenings for men and women, vision screening for children, etc. These things aren't just critical to protecting people's health, they're key to controlling heatlh care costs. Prevention is always cheaper than cancer treatment.

So providing critical preventive care and saving money? Republicans hate that.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. You'd think this would be cause for celebration, but I sometimes forget this is the "new DU"!

[nolabear]

2. Outstanding! Women's lives may be saved. Families may be saved.

Thank you, President Obama.

[Lars39]

3. This is great news!

I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years, now on my 4th year out of 5 for Arimidex. I got a lot of free samples from my oncologist when I went on Arimidex. That first month I got my prescription filled was a real eye-opener...my insurance would only pay about $30, so I had to fork over nearly $400 every month. It was breaking us.

We did that for about 5-6 months before the drug went generic. Went from paying nearly $400/month to paying $35.

Got different insurance a year or so later and was able to get a 3 month supply of Arimidex for $15.00.

This will make a *huge* difference in womens' lives.

[JaneyVee]

4. Men get breast cancer too. This is great news for ALL!