Women's Health 'Imperiled' By Medicare Plan To Limit Reimbursements For Medical Imaging At Non-Hospital Facilities, Opinion Piece States

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  MRI / PET / Ultrasound
Article Date: 12 Dec 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Although "[a]dvances in imaging have enhanced every aspect of women's health care," Congress "will soon decide whether to cut $20 billion in Medicare funding" for medical imaging services, on top of $13 billion "that has already been slashed" under the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, Phyllis Greenberger, president and CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece. Greenberger continues that Congress' proposal to limit reimbursements for imaging at non-hospital facilities "will have a disproportionately negative effect on millions of Americans who rely on public transportation or live in a rural area," adding that women "with limited financial resources who already suffer from inadequate health services will have to forgo imaging tests because they cannot afford out-of-pocket costs."

Greenberger writes, "Access to modern diagnostic and imaging tools is an issue of critical importance to women's health care that goes beyond general prevention efforts." She concludes, "Women have been waiting a long time to receive the right information and the right care in both hospitals and physicians' offices. Now is not the time to make it more difficult for women to get the care they deserve" (Greenberger, Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/11).

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