6 Places to Get Low-Cost or Free Mammograms — Even Without Insurance

One of the best ways to stop breast cancer in its tracks is early detection. Though every woman should do breast self-exams each month, women over 40 should also consider getting a mammogram — an X-ray that examines breast tissue — every one to two years. And if you’re younger than 40 but have risk factors for breast cancer, you might need a mammogram, too; ask for your doctor’s recommendation. Whatever your age, don’t avoid mammograms because of their cost. Women today have a bounty of ways to get free and low-cost mammograms. Here are six options.

1. Your Doctor

If you’re 50 or older, the Affordable Care Act requires your insurer to cover screening mammograms every two years with no co-payment. Medicare and Medicaid also cover the cost of mammograms.

2. The National Breast Cancer Foundation

The National Breast Cancer Foundation partners “with medical facilities across the country to provide free mammograms and diagnostic breast care services to underserved women.”

3. The Susan G. Komen Foundation

This breast cancer organization has affiliates in 120 American cities. According to its website, its affiliate network “is the nation’s largest private funder of community-based breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment programs.”

4. The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program

The CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program “provides breast and cervical cancer screenings and diagnostic services to low-income, uninsured and underinsured women across the United States.” To qualify for this screening, you should be between the ages of 40 and 64, have no insurance or insurance that fails to cover screening exams, and live at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.

5. The YWCA

Some YWCA chapters, through their ENCOREplus programs, provide breast cancer screening and education to women who have no insurance or who are underinsured.

6. Your Local Imaging Center

According to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, many imaging centers offer reduced rates during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is in October. You can search for a local mammography center on the FDA website. An online search for free mammograms in your community may turn up other options, too. Many states and counties throughout the U.S. offer free mammograms through their own health services. Whatever you do, don’t wait!