Alberta Health agrees to pay for testing

CTV Calgary: Breast cancer coverage Kathy Le reports on new provincial coverage for breast cancer testing.

Alberta Health is now funding a diagnostic test for breast cancer.

For several years women have been pushing the province to cover the cost of the Oncotype DX for some women with early stage breast cancer.

The test helps an oncologist determine whether chemotherapy is necessary.

The test analyzes 21 tumour genes and predicts if the cancer is likely to return and if it’s safer for a woman to skip chemotherapy.

Up until recently, women in Alberta whose doctors recommended they have the test, had to pay for it themselves.  It cost 4,000 dollars per test.

Alberta Health says it estimates 895 women in Alberta will require the test this year; so far four have received it under the new funding arrangement.