Medicare proposes covering lung cancer screening
Source: AP-Excite
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare may soon begin paying for yearly scans to detect lung cancer in certain current or former heavy smokers.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday issued a long-awaited proposal to begin covering the screening for high-risk beneficiaries if their doctors agree they meet the criteria.
Lung cancer kills nearly 160,000 Americans a year, in part because tumors aren't usually detected early enough for treatment to stand a good chance. A major study found low-dose CT scans of the lungs of people at especially high risk could cut their chances of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent.
Last December, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended the test for certain people ages 55 to 80 who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years, or the equivalent. Under the Affordable Care Act, that meant private insurers had to begin covering the screening.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141110/us-med-lung-cancer-screening-c2f3db4912.html
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