Women welcome MOH move to screen for family cancer history, have insurance cover preventive surgery

Women welcome Singapore's move to subsidise genetic testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and cover preventive surgery. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SINGAPORE - Business executive Ann, 51, had been diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in her right breast.

But when she opted for a double mastectomy in 2021 at age 47 and had both breasts removed at the same time, her insurers refused to cover the preventive surgery to remove and reconstruct her non-cancerous left breast.

It paid for only one.

Meanwhile, Alice, at 61, found out she carried a gene mutation associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer after her sister in the US was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Although she was able to take preventive steps that included surgery later, she felt that she might have made different life choices if she had known earlier.

Both women, who declined to give their full names for privacy reasons, welcomed the Health Ministry’s recent move to not only subsidise genetic testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), but also allow MediShield Life and MediSave to be used to pay for risk-reducing surgery.