Medicare has recognized this, and therefore, pays 80 percent of an annual mammogram. For women not eligible for Medicare, the Kentucky Women's Cancer Screening Project provides free or low-cost mammograms to women who are uninsured or underinsured and meet other eligibility requirements. The Kentucky PRO partners with organizations also concerned about increasing the mammography rates in Kentucky. Representatives from Health Care Excel regularly attend meetings of the Kentucky Breast Cancer Coalition and the Kentucky Breast Cancer Advisory Committee, participate in cancer conferences, and attend special events such as the First Lady's Celebration of Hope for Breast Cancer Survivors. The Kentucky PRO has provided 80,000 pieces of free educational materials to Kentucky health agencies, physicians' offices, mammography centers, rural or nurse-managed health clinics and Area Agencies on Aging since February 2000.
Mammograms save lives.
If you are female and over 40 years of age, give yourself the gift of life and freedom from worry by having a yearly mammogram. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the perfect time to make sure you and your women friends are participating in healthy choices that help women live longer. Use a facility that either specializes in mammography or performs many mammograms a day. If you are satisfied that the facility is of high quality, continue to go there on a regular basis so that your mammograms can be compared from year to year. If you change facilities, ask for your old mammograms to bring with you to the new facility so that they can be compared to the new ones.