Members of the House and Senate and a number of organizations have recently joined forces in support of full Medicare coverage of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for seniors at high-risk for lung cancer. They have sent out letters to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in their efforts to convince the agencies.

"This effort by Congress is an important step toward ensuring that patients at greatest risk for lung cancer can be diagnosed and treated in the early stages, when they have a better chance of survival," Dr. Douglas E. Wood, immediate past president of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, said in a statement.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Johnny Isakson led the Senate letter that had 45 signatories and Representatives Dr. Charles Boustany Jr., John Barrow, Jim Renacci and Richard E. Neal wrote the House letter, which had 134 signatories.

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, according to the American Cancer Society. Based on estimates in the U.S. for 2014, there were about 159,260 deaths from lung cancer, which is about 27 percent of all cancer deaths.

However, data is now showing that there is a 20 percent mortality reduction in high-risk patients who are screened for lung cancer with LDCT. The average age for lung cancer diagnosis is 70 so if Medicare doesn't cover screening for high-risk patients then the group of people that would benefit the most from it won't have access to it.

"We are now starting to screen those at high risk under the age of 65," Laurie Fenton Ambrose, president and CEO of the Lung Cancer Alliance, said in a statement. "A person's risk for lung cancer does not magically disappear when they reach that age. Therefore it is neither logical nor ethical to stop screening at that point."

The United States Preventive Service Task Force recommended lung cancer screening for high-risk patients last December, but Medicare is not required to follow it. The screening advocates are hoping that CMS will follow the recommendations when it makes its final coverage decision in November.

"Screening infrastructure is emerging and the privately insured already have coverage," Dr. Bibb Allen, chair of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors, said in a statement. "It is time for Medicare to fully cover beneficiaries for these lifesaving exams."

More Industry Headlines