(Photo By Flickr User Rosmarie Voegtli)

Women in Illinois will soon have more resources available to help detect breast cancer.

Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation last month expanding health insurance coverage for mammograms and other breast cancer screenings.

Beginning January 1, 2020, both private insurance and Medicaid must cover several preventative measures to help women detect breast cancer.

Mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs will now be covered, when deemed medically necessary by a physician, advanced practice nurse or physician assistant, according to the governor.

Dr. Vitor Pastorini with Quincy Medical Group says he hopes more women will get screened now with more coverage beyond the first round of screening.

“A lot of times patients who didn’t have insurance or couldn’t afford a co-pay would stop the process right there, but early screening and detection is the most important way of beating cancer, ” Dr. Pastorini said.

QMG Registered Nurse Rebecca Dedert was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2017. She later had surgery and radiation treatments to remove the cancer.

Dedert now acts as the Women’s Health Navigator for the QMG Cancer Care team, helping women through their diagnosis and treatment.

“Those additional pictures can truly spot that breast cancer, so it can be a life saving or life changing test, so I hope more women will chose too do these follow ups,” Dedert said.

(Information Courtesy Of WGEM-TV)