(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Legislature has unanimously voted to require that insurance plans cover diagnostic tests like M-R-Is and ultrasounds that are used to detect breast cancer. Senator Cherilynn Westrich, of Ottumwa, says a mammogram alone may not be appropriate for patients who’ve had cancer or have a history of breast cancer in their family.

“An MRI is one of the most effective tools around for finding these breast tumors,” she says, “even those in dense breast tissue which is notoriously hard to image.” According to the National Science Institute, about 10 percent of women have dense breast tissue. Westrich says she’s heard about many women who had standard mammograms regularly, but but the mammograms did not detect their tumors in the early stages of the disease.

“If it had been caught in early stages it would not have been a an issue or a smaller issue for them, but now many of them are facing consequences — and many of them are facing death,” Westrich said.

Under current federal law, insurers are only required to cover the costs of an annual mammogram. In 2017, legislators in Iowa passed a law requiring mammogram notification letters to let patients know if the test shows they have dense breast tissue and other testing might be needed.