USA: some insurers pay women to get frequent mammograms

Instead, employers and health plans should offer incentives that reward the use of evidence-based decision aids

image of Woman-and-Mammogram
How widespread is the practice of incentivizing mammograms? Image Jon Krause.
  • ” A 53-year-old woman on Medicaid in Washington State who has never had a mammogram elects to get one in return for a $15 gift card.
  • A 35-year-old woman in Florida chooses to get her first mammogram because her insurer, Aetna, offers a $50 payroll check.
  • In Iowa, a 46-year-old woman who has been getting mammograms every other year opts to get them annually because Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield will pay her $50 to do so.

All three of these women have average risk profiles, and none have family members with breast cancer. Who made the right choice?

It’s a trick question. The real question is whether employers and health plans should really be offering incentives to women to get frequent mammograms. ”

… continue reading:  Insurer Rewards Push Women Toward Mammograms, NY Times, JAN. 18, 2016.

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