Most insurance companies help pay for mammograms. Mammograms are unsafe and too painful. Mammograms give only minimal exposure to radiation. Some pressure on the breasts is needed during the mammogram in order to get a clear x-ray, but it only lasts a few minutes. A woman can tell the mammography technician to decrease the pressure if it becomes too uncomfortable.
Breast cancer can occur at any time.
The American College of Radiology, the American Medical Society, and the American Cancer Society recommend that women aged 40 and older have a mammogram every year. When a woman has annual mammograms, her doctor can compare the x-rays from year to year. This makes it easier to find changes in the breasts and detect breast cancer in its earliest stages. All women have an equal risk of getting breast cancer and dying from it. There are differences in rates of detection and survival outcomes between women of different races.