COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
MASSACHUSETTS SENATE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON 02133
Senator Joan B. Lovely
State Senator
2nd Essex District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 29, 2024
Senate Acts on Senator Lovely’s Bill to Expand Coverage Breast Cancer Screenings
Breast cancer accounts for 30% of new cancer diagnoses
(BOSTON—10/29/2024) Senate Assistant Majority Leader Joan B. Lovely (D-Salem) announces the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill expanding breast cancer screening services that must be covered by health insurers in the state.
H.4918, An Act Relative to Medically Necessary Breast Screenings and Exams for Equity and Early Detection requires health insurance providers, including the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) and MassHealth, to provide coverage for diagnostic examinations for breast cancer, digital breast tomosynthesis screening, and medically necessary and appropriate screening with breast magnetic resonance imaging.
Although access to routine preventive screening mammograms is currently covered under the Affordable Care Act, this legislation would go further and require coverage for certain screenings and exams currently not uniformly covered by law.
“I am grateful to see this legislation, which I have worked on for nearly a decade, move forward,” said Senator Lovely. “Early detection of breast cancer saves lives. This legislation makes those diagnostic exams used for early detection accessible and affordable, giving women the vital resources needed to catch breast cancer in its earliest stages. With this bill, we are bolstering the Commonwealth’s commitment to providing higher quality, more equitable, and more accessible healthcare for women.”
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DP), breast cancer was the leading cancer among Massachusetts females between 2016 and 2020, accounting for over 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in the state, afflicting more than 30,000 individuals. 4,010 Massachusetts residents lost their lives to breast cancer in that time period.
According to the American Cancer Society, when breast cancer is localized and detected early, the five-year relative survival rate is 99%.
“We know that in the fight against cancer, early detection is absolutely vital for the long-term success of the patients,” said Senate Majority Whip Michael F. Rush (D-Boston). “We also know that for one out of every ten women, initial mammogram screenings are not sufficient to detect possible indicators of breast cancer. This legislation passed by the Senate today ensures that all women in the Commonwealth have access to the digital breast tomosynthesis and MRI screening they need to catch cancer early without facing financial barriers. I’m grateful to Senator Lovely and House Chair James Murphy for their championship on this issue and to my colleagues in the Senate, particularly President Spilka and Chairman Rodrigues, for their unending support for women’s issues and the fight against breast cancer.”
“Digital breast tomosynthesis screening has been the state of the art for breast cancer detection for more than a decade, and this bill makes a necessary update to the law to reflect how breast cancer care has evolved,” said M.J. O’Neill, M.D., President of Beverly Radiology Associates and Chief of Radiology at Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals. “It is essential that these screenings are covered by insurance to ensure that everyone has access to a method proven to catch cancer earlier—saving lives and sparing patients from the high costs of treating breast cancer.”
A previous version of this bill having passed the House of Representatives, the two branches will now reconcile the differences between the bills before sending it to the Governor’s desk.
###