Over 20% of women are paying out-of-pocket costs for their screening mammogram, shows study

More than 20% of women aged 50-64 years and those aged 65-74 years with Medicare coverage reported paying out-of-pocket costs for their most recent screening mammogram, according to a study led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among uninsured women aged 50-64 years, almost 40% reported out-of-pocket payments for screening mammography. The full results of the analysis are described in an article published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The full-text article free on the Journal of Women's Health website through November 9, 2018 at https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jwh.2018.6973.

Data from the 2015 National Health Interview Survey were used to examine the prevalence of out-of-pocket payments for screening mammography among women aged 50-74 years who reported having a mammogram in the prior year. Susan Sabatino, MD, MPH and colleagues from the CDC (Atlanta, GA), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Bethesda, MD), and the National Cancer Institute (Rockville, MD) coauthored the article entitled "Prevalence of Out-Of-Pocket Payments for Mammography Screening Among Recently Screened Women."

"Out-of-pocket payments can be a barrier to receiving mammography screening and may contribute to disparities in screening," states Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health and Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA. "Efforts are needed to better understand why many women in certain groups are paying out-of-pocket for mammograms, and to reduce or eliminate cost barriers for these women."