Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act

The Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act would require Medicare to cover custom-made breast prostheses for women who have undergone mastectomies, directly affecting Medicare beneficiaries and influencing private insurance coverage practices. Currently, Medicare denies coverage for these prostheses as "not medically necessary" while covering surgical breast reconstruction, creating a gap that disproportionately impacts older and minority women. The bill amends Medicare’s coverage rules to explicitly include custom breast prostheses under the same category as other body part prostheses. This change would address the lack of access to a common, less invasive alternative to surgery for over 100,000 women undergoing mastectomies annually.