S. 2412: Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2021

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S. 2412: Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2021

117th Congress · introduced 2021-07-21 · Health · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S5020)

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Official title

Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2021

Plain summary

Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2021 or the PALS Act This bill makes a series of changes relating to health insurance coverage of screening mammography. Specifically, the bill requires that any provision of law referring to current recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) with respect to breast cancer screening mammography be administered as if (1) the provision referred to USPSTF recommendations last issued before 2009; and (2) those recommendations applied to any screening mammography modality, including any digital modality of such a procedure. This requirement shall also apply to the Veterans Health Administration's policy on mammography screening for veterans. In addition, the bill preserves Medicare coverage for screening mammography, without a requirement for coinsurance, and expands the definition of screening mammography to include any digital modality of such a procedure. Further, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may not decrease the frequency with which screening mammography may be paid by Medicare for a woman over 39 years of age. In 2009, the USPSTF updated its guidelines to recommend against routine screening mammography for women between 40 to 49 years of age and to recommend biennial, instead of annual, screening mammography for most women between 50 to 74 years of age. In 2015, through the appropriations process, a three-year moratorium was placed on implementing the guidelines; the moratorium was subsequently renewed until January 1, 2023.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA] · 6 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-117s2412.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/117/s>

Record fed-us-cong117-s2412 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong117 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong117