The Problem: Mastectomy patients going flat are regularly denied insurance coverage for the services of a plastic surgeon, and cancer surgeons who spend extra time to create an aesthetic flat closure at the time of the mastectomy are frequently not reimbursed for their work.
As a result, one in four of the 50,000 patients in the USA going flat end up with egregiously poor aesthetic outcomes (see image below). That's over 12,000 patients every single year who are suffering needlessly. This happens in part because the federal law - the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act (WHCRA) - only requires insurance to cover the cost of breast reconstruction, not chest wall reconstruction (aka aesthetic flat closure).
We simply want patients going flat to have the same access to insurance coverage for necessary care that women reconstructing their breasts do.
It's about health, choice, and dignity.
The WHCRA mentions breast reconstruction three times. All we need to do is amend that to "breast or chest wall reconstruction" and the problem is solved. It's simple & will have bipartisan support – an "easy win."
Learn more at www.NotPuttingonaShirt.org/WHCRA
