Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Overtreatment For Breast Cancer Costs $4B Annually, Study Finds
Sharpening a medical debate about the costs and benefits of cancer screening, a new report estimates that the U.S. spends $4 billion a year on unnecessary medical costs due to mammograms that generate false alarms, and on treatment of certain breast tumors unlikely to cause problems. The study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs breaks the cost down as follows: $2.8 billion resulting from false-positive mammograms and another $1.2 billion attributed to breast cancer overdiagnosis. That's the treatment of tumors that grow slowly or not at all, and are unlikely to develop into life-threatening disease during a woman's lifetime. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/6)
Americans are spending more than $4 billion a year misdiagnosing breast cancer or overdiagnosing the disease, according to a new study in Health Affairs. (Mershon, 4/6)
False-positive mammograms, which suggest a woman has breast cancer when she actually doesn't, cost the nation $4 billion a year, new research shows. And a second study, also released Monday, shows that new treatments for women who really do have breast cancer may cost more, but they are helping them survive longer than older treatments. (Fox, 4/6)
