FREE Mammograms

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you’ve never had a mammogram, there’s no better time than the present. If you can’t afford it because you’re uninsured or underinsured, Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) is a good time to get a free or low-cost mammogram. Here are some resources that can help.

Where in the Boston area might you be able to get FREE mammograms (or at least low cost)?

• The National Breast Cancer Foundation has a National Mammography Program that partners with medical facilities across the United States to provide mammograms. In Boston, its at Dana Farber.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides breast cancer screenings (including mammograms) and cervical cancer screenings to low-income, uninsured or underinsured women. The Women’s Health Network is available in MA.
• Some Susan G. Komen Foundation affiliates sponsor programs or events to provide free or low-cost mammograms. Some also offer breast cancer education and treatment services (the services provided vary by affiliate). The Southern New England affiliate is in Farmington, CT.
• During October, many FDA-certified imaging centers offer free mammograms or discounts on mammography services. Click here to find an imaging center near you. You’ll need to call each facility to ask about deals for Breast Cancer Awareness Month–there are several locations in Boston and Cambridge.
• The American Cancer Society can help you find free or low-cost mammograms in your area. Call 800-227-2345 for assistance.

Help more women get FREE mammograms:

Plus, if you’d like to help more women get mammograms, check out the Breast Cancer Site. On their site is a box at the top of the page and when you “click on” the box, it helps allow a woman to get a FREE mammogram. Even better–you can click on that box every single day if you’d like–I’ve saved the link in my email to remind me to click often. Plus, if you share it on social media, it helps even more. The site is also a great place to order pink ribbon merchandise, but no purchase is necessary to support the mammogram funding.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation recommends that all women over 40 get a mammogram every one to two years. If you have private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, at least part of the cost of your mammogram should be covered. Under the federal Affordable Health Care Act, if you have a new health insurance plan or insurance policy issued after Sept. 23, 2010, and you are over 40, mammograms must be covered with no copayment or obligation to first meet your deductible.