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Read. Follow. Verify.West Virginia Bill Requires Health Insurers to Cover Annual Mammograms for Women 40 and Over Without a Doctor's Order
Last action · January 20, 2026: To Banking and InsuranceSponsor: Laura Chapman
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What This Bill Proposed
West Virginia Senate Bill 519 mandates that state public employee insurance plans, accident and sickness insurers, hospital service corporations, health care corporations, and health maintenance organizations cover the cost of one annual mammogram for women aged 40 and older without requiring a preliminary medical order. For women under 40 with risk factors or family history, the bill requires coverage for mammograms at intervals deemed medically necessary by a health care provider. Additionally, the legislation mandates coverage for comprehensive breast ultrasound screenings if a mammogram shows dense breast tissue or if a woman has specific risk factors. These coverage requirements apply to policies delivered, issued, reissued, or extended in West Virginia on or after January 1, 2026.
Insured women aged 40 and over gain the ability to obtain annual mammograms without needing a prior medical order, while certain women with dense breast tissue gain guaranteed coverage for comprehensive breast ultrasound screenings under health plans regulated by the state.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Women aged 40 and over in West Virginia
Eligible women receive guaranteed coverage for annual mammograms without needing a prior medical order.
Women under 40 with risk factors or dense breast tissue
Individuals receive mandated coverage for medically necessary mammograms and comprehensive breast ultrasounds based on specific risk criteria or tissue density.
Health insurers and health maintenance organizations in West Virginia
Insurers must update their policies, contracts, and plans to include coverage for annual mammograms without orders and comprehensive breast ultrasounds under specified conditions.
West Virginia public employees
Public employees covered under the state's public employees insurance act receive the mandated breast cancer screening coverage provisions.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do women aged 40 and over need a doctor's order to get a covered annual mammogram?
When does a woman qualify for a comprehensive breast ultrasound under this legislation?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in Senate committee.
Procedural history
4 actions- Jan 20, 2026SenateCommitteeTo Banking and Insurance
- Jan 20, 2026SenateIntroducedIntroduced in Senate
- Jan 20, 2026SenateCommitteeTo Banking and Insurance then Finance
- Jan 20, 2026SenateIntroducedFiled for introduction
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Comprehensive Insurer Mandate Expansion
The bill simultaneously amends multiple distinct chapters of the West Virginia Code—covering public employees, accident and sickness insurers, hospital service corporations, health care corporations, and HMOs—to standardize breast cancer screening coverage requirements.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.wvlegislature.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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