Colon cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the United States, but screening can help detect and prevent it, an important message in March, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
The most common screening for colon cancer, the colonoscopy, is free for most people over 45 under the Affordable Care Act. But according to Shawn Stack, a policy director at the Healthcare Financial Management Association, it could end up costing you anyway.
“That screening can turn into a diagnostic colonoscopy, if indeed polyps are found and removed during that procedure,” Stack said. Such removal – which occurs while the patient is under anesthesia for the screening – would convert the procedure into a type of colonoscopy not mandated by law to be free to the patient.
Stack recommends that patients ask their insurer what their coverages are, and what the cost sharing amount would be if polyps are found and removed.
Also, find out what the colonoscopy prep work will cost you. The prep work could be fairly simple and inexpensive or, depending on what your clinician has ordered, it might not be covered.
“So that is something that you want to ask your clinician up front. What are my options here for prep, and what will that cost?” Stack said.