Angelina Jolie has preventive double mastectomy

It's becoming more and more common. It's a no-brainer for the insurance to cover it. What's cheaper in the long run, pay for a surgery. I don't know if the "reconstruction" is covered, but the other two almost certainly are.

They told Jolie she had an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer. I think it's safe to say she made the right move.

 

The money in medicine is in the middle man.

 

Kudos to Jolie. Not an easy decision and she wrote it well.

BUT, at the same time, easier to do when you KNOW you have access to the best care money can buy. When you don't have to worry about being out of work during the process. When you have insurance. The reality is, what she was able to do is out of reach for some.

And if reconstruction isn't covered by insurance... who is going to do it? Who will live without breasts?

 

The National Cancer Institute on preventive mastectomy:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/preventive-mastectomy

Under Obamacare, an insurer must pay full dollar for the BRCA test if a doctor orders it (and, of course, the patient is insured):

http://blog.aarp.org/2013/02/20/insurance-will-have-to-pay-for-more-preventive-care/

I can't find offhand if insurance will cover the surgery, though I presume it will. After all, the insurer can pay now or later. I believe, though, insurers do NOT pay for reconstruction. That is considered cosmetic. My mother (who is off the actuarial charts as a 35-year breast cancer survivor) got reconstructive surgery about 25 years after her single mastectomy, but I believe she had to fork over for that her ownself.

Sharon Osbourne also had this procedure done after testing positive for the gene, and following a bout with colon cancer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/nov/05/sharon-osbourne-double-mastectomy

 

Any idea how insurance works for actors and actresses?
Do they have such benefits through SAG? If not, I imagine they are self-insured.

 

SAG has its own health plan. Many unions work that way. My next-door neighbor the electrician, who goes from temporary job to temporary job (by design) just like an actor, has his insurance through his union.

 

If I remember correctly, it's because the pharmaceutical company that discovered the gene has patented it and sells the test at a for-profit markup. The patent has also kept non-affiliated scientists from researching medicines that might work directly with that gene to treat/prevent the cancers caused by the mutation.

It's in the Supreme Court right now, actually. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/15/science/la-sci-sn-gene-patent-supreme-court-myriad-genetics-20130415

 

Companies also need to make back the money they spent on R&D.

If they can't make the money back, there won't be any R&D.

 

Absolutely. Those companies are barely making any money at all once you take into account R&D. The pharmaceutical industry is really lagging.

 

I have a friend who did it. She was absolutely low- to middle-income, single parent at the time.

Her mom had died at 40 of breast cancer and her younger sister died before the age of 25. You find a way.

 

I like how you knew exactly what that emoticon meant.

 

Sounds tacky, but, TTIWWAP.