NC House lawmakers push for better breast cancer detection

Bipartisan lawmakers in the North Carolina House are backing a bill that would provide equal health insurance coverage for diagnostic and supplemental breast imaging.

Legislators have introduced "Breast Cancer Prevention Imaging Parity" measures four times in recent years. The bill has passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support each time, but has never advanced in the state Senate.

Rep. Mary Belk (D-Mecklenburg) said the bill is specifically aimed at helping three groups of patients afford medically necessary tests: those who have had breast cancer, those with increased genetic risk, and those who have discovered a breast abnormality through standard screening.

Routine low-dose mammography often isn't enough to detect breast cancer for those patients, Belk said. But more precise diagnostic tools like an ultrasound or an MRI can carry high out-of-pocket costs. Depending on the patient's insurance plan, a copay for those supplemental tests can range from $250 to over $1,300, according to Belk.

"Some patients are choosing to delay or even forgo these follow-up tests because they simply cannot afford it," she said. "That means some cancers are going undetected until they are dangerous and are far more costly to treat. That is not just a health issue, that is a fairness issue."

Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) said she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of last year. The copay for her routine mammogram was $25, but the out-of-pocket cost for additional imaging was $790.

She was able to afford the care, but said she's fighting for those who can't. She's disappointed that the Senate still hasn't taken up the legislation.

Advocates for improved breast cancer detection draw unlikely allies as bill clears NC House

The most recent version, House Bill 297, was filed in March 2025. It passed the House on a vote of 111-1 in May 2025, but has waited in the Senate Rules Committee without a hearing ever since.

"That tells me that we still haven't reached a point where it is people over politics," Butler said.

Rep. Donna White (R-Johnston), a registered nurse, called out her colleagues in the upper chamber for holding up the legislation. She urged her Senate counterparts to imagine the impact the bill could have on the women in their lives.

"Would you vote for this bill if you knew that this coverage for low-dose screening and advanced procedures would be able to prevent them from having to have another breast removed, or having both breasts removed, or having it migrate to another organ?" White asked.

Deandrea Newsome from Susan Komen Foundation, the world's leading nonprofit breast cancer organization, said similar bills have passed in 32 states.

Newsome estimates approximately 11,820 people in North Carolina will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and 1,460 will die from the disease.

"It is time that we pass this bill in North Carolina," she said. "We know how deeply important it is for cancer patients to have fair and equitable access to breast imaging that may save their lives."

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Courtesy of NC Newsline