A lot of times I tune things on the Today Show out. And that’s primarily because this has gone from being a very good morning news show with good news segments, to a lot of softball and marshmallow fluff.

But they had the segment today about breast, cancer and mammograms and breast cancer screenings.

I started listening because they were talking about the rates going up for breast cancer in women from 40 to 49. I was 47 at my diagnosis. 

So they are talking about mammograms starting earlier and then being covered, etc. etc. 

New guidance issued by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends that beginning at age 40, all women undergo a routine breast cancer screening every other year. NBC’s Dr. Natalie Azar was the medical professional interviewed.

I believe, given the size of my tumor, which was stage 2 almost to stage 3 when it was discovered, I could have quite possibly not survived breast cancer, if I had fallen into that category of insurance paying every other year for a mammogram.

That’s bullshit. Women should be able to have mammograms not only earlier in life, but insurance should pay for it.

When I was diagnosed, my tumor did not show on a regular mammogram or an ultrasound. I had an invasive lobular breast cancer tumor. It only showed up finally on a bilateral MRI with dye. I had to fight for everything. And this tumor could be felt, but it couldn’t be seen, which is why I had to do a bilateral breast MRI with dye.

At the time I was dealing with Aetna as my self pay HMO. And they sucked. My readers will remember when I started radiation. They did not even want to pay for Biafine cream, so I had to pay out of pocket and it was expensive. It was prescription then and it cost me back then in 2011 over a hundred dollars a tube.

When I was diagnosed with my breast cancer, Tomography was in Europe and NOT FDA approved and being used in the US. Tomography has been a game changer for mammography since it was approved, yet a lot of insurance won’t cover it and they just want the regular, old-fashioned mammogram machines.

Because I am a breast cancer survivor, and I have dense breasts, I am really grateful that I can get a Tomography mammogram.

But if I had to go every other year for a mammogram, I would freak out. And again, if I had to go every other year for a mammogram back when I was diagnosed, I might not be here writing this today.

I really wish they would stop screwing with women’s healthcare in this country. From how often we are “allowed” to get a mammogram to being told what our right to choose with our body should be, it’s really total bullshit.

Legislators in the United States do not like to deal with insurance companies. I mean face it they’re high-powered executives probably fund a lot of campaigns, right? But those of us who are the regular people in this world need consistent access and fair treatment.

Part of that fair treatment involves reasonable out-of-pocket medical expenses. I basically have had healthcare PTSD over the last 14 years. Every time I have to have something, I dread what the co-pay is going to be. Take for example the Mohs surgeries on my skin cancer spots. Usually it’s $1000 to walk in the door every single time sometimes more and then after everything is settled out. I get these residual bills from Penn Medicine that my very expensive and very good healthcare plan won’t cover and half the reason we’re not getting stuff covered is there’s a lot of pork in the healthcare industry and when it trickles down to for us, the subscribers and the insureds we pay for it. Out the ass.

So if they are recommending that women start getting mammograms earlier, they should also be available to everyone and insurance companies not playing reindeer games with our lives.

This is something where I will write my elected officials in Congress and tell them we need mammograms, younger, and they should be available and paid for by insurance every year.

Think about it. Health insurance companies are putting too high a premium on our very lives. We pay for health insurance, they should give us what we should be entitled to as women. It shouldn’t be so hard to get the things we need done. I’m not talking about elective procedures like Botox and plastic surgery. I’m talking about life-saving procedures and preventative measures.

Fight for mammograms. Fight for insurance companies paying for mammograms every year as a basic rights of women in this country. 

Thanks for stopping by.