Need a mammogram voucher? Prepare to discuss income
At 60 years of age, women like me are deeply encouraged to get a yearly mammogram test for breast cancer.
It is a test many of us hate.
Going through a mammogram is extraordinarily uncomfortable. But it's a necessary pain, we are told, and gritting our teeth, we do it, year after year.
This year I'm without an health insurance plan that covers preventative tests like a mammogram. Called a "skinny" plan, it's affordable and covers me in accidents, etc.
Thankfully I've been very healthy to date. I work hard at staying healthy, especially with this "skinny" insurance plan. But I also know a lot about mammograms, mostly because for 10 years I focused on health and wellness as a daily newspaper reporter.
In that time I wrote numerous stories about breast cancer, including to promote the Race for the Cure, the road race held across the country that's part of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In the Quad-Cities this race is the second weekend of June, and thousands of women (and men) take part. Participants are encouraged to raise money, especially for the local voucher program that covers costs for those who live in several counties in the Q-C region.
Most medical tests are expensive, quite pricey in the United States. A quick internet search shows mammograms cost up to $266.
I called the helpful staff at Genesis Medical Center to make an appointment, and mentioned the insurance situation. It was suggested I sign up for the voucher program. After I got to the appointment I had some papers to fill out, with questions, for example, on my genetic background.
After that, a staff member asked about my household income levels and used an economic chart to prove the point. I was taken aback, but she said Genesis employees are charged with asking questions about yearly income, as there are limited funds and these are attached to the Komen foundation.
Really? I can't believe so many women are clamoring for a mammogram that they plan to game the system.
The Genesis staff explained the questions on income aren't ordered by the hospital system, but are part of their agreement with the Komen foundation. Komen certainly does a lot of good in America, but its regulations are disappointing at the local level.
My mammogram? It was clean.
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