Yes, this would be covered by healthcare as a preventative (elective) surgery.
Although my wife already had breast cancer, she still had a 60% chance of another breast cancer occuring. The double mastectomy was a preventative (elective) surgery for the potential of future cancer, and was not a treatment for the breast cancer she had 2 years ago.
The reason that the elective surgery is covered, is that once you've been diagnosed with BRCA1, you will require some form of monitoring every 3 months for the rest of your life.
The plan put infront of us was (a) double mastectomy w/ reconstruction, or (b) MRI/Ultrasound every 6 months, and a Mammogram every 6 months, each spaced out in 3 month intervals.
From a cost point of view, it is much cheaper to do the elective surgery up front, than to monitor a young woman as mentioned above for the rest of her life.
|