Opinion: Cost Issues Delaying Breast Cancer Screening Bill
Contra Costa Times columnist Tammerlin Drummond writes that cost is the "underlying issue" delaying passage of a bill (SB 791) that would require health care providers to inform women about the presence of high-density breast tissue, which can obscure the presence of cancerous tumors. Drummond writes that health care providers and insurers "have fought tooth and nail" against the bill, saying it would cause unnecessary panic and "could cost $20 million to private health care plans and insurers." Drummond adds, "It is dishonest to the point of criminal to have countless women believing that mammograms will detect their breast cancer when, in fact, health providers know the opposite may be true."
- "Tammerlin Drummond: Patients Have a Right To Know About Breast Cancer Risk" (Drummond, Contra Costa Times, 9/10).