Great news for our patients: effective Jan. 1, 2017, screening colonoscopies in Kentucky for asymptomatic individuals are fully covered by insurance, even if a polyp is found and removed, as well as colonoscopies after a positive fecal blood test. The state legislature in Oregon recently passed a similar bill.
California is considering a similar bill as well. ACG’s Governors in CA have already sent a letter of support and are working to get this bill signed into law. ACG members in CA: please click here to contact Assemblyman Gipson to express your support for the “Health Care Coverage: Colorectal Cancer Screening and Testing (bill number: AB 1763).”
These state bills share the same goal that ACG and others are trying to accomplish at the federal level. The SCREEN Act (S. 1079; HR 2035) removes financial barriers throughout the “screening continuum,” so that cost-sharing would not apply, whether the colonoscopy was a preventive test, or as the result of a positive finding on another screening modality. The SCREEN Act also reverses recent cuts to colonoscopy in Medicare. Please click here to express your support for the SCREEN Act.
Susan Galandiuk, MD, FACG
ACG Governor for Kentucky