Bill receives ceremonial signing

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HARTFORD — A ceremonial signing took place June 27 for a new law that limits insurance copayments for breast ultrasound screenings to $20.

“We started this effort to provide women with better and more affordable mammogram services nearly 10 years ago, and since then Connecticut has become the leader in the nation in breast health, and thousands of lives have been saved,” said state Sen. Joseph Crisco Jr., who is Senate chairman of the Insurance Committee, in a press release. “We have been on this great odyssey of making lives better for people because that is our mission in the state legislature.”

Senate Bill 10 was passed on a unanimous and bipartisan vote of the state legislature in early May. It was signed into law on June 6 by Gov. Dannel Malloy as Public Act 14-97, according to the release.

The new law prohibits certain health insurance policies from imposing a copayment of more than $20 for a breast ultrasound screening for which the policies are required to provide coverage. By law, insurance policies in Connecticut must cover a comprehensive breast ultrasound screening if a mammogram shows heterogeneous or dense breast tissue, or if a woman is at an increased risk for breast cancer, according to the release.

Nancy Cappello, the founder and executive director of Are You Dense, praised today for his ongoing work on behalf of Connecticut women, beginning with her personal story back in 2006.

“Since then Joe has been working with AreYouDense.org to help improve the outcomes for every woman in Connecticut. He is known for this across the country and around the globe,” Cappello said in the release.