Insurance companies say mammogram coverage is unlikely to change despite the debate over the effectiveness of breast cancer screenings for women in their forties.

The Washington Post: "A top federal health official said Wednesday that the controversial new guidelines for breast cancer screening do not represent government policy, as the Obama administration sought to keep the debate over mammograms from undermining the prospects for health-care reform. "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a written statement, said the new guidelines had 'caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women and their families across this country,' and she stressed that they were issued by 'an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who . . . do not set federal policy and . . . don't determine what services are covered by the federal government" (Stein and Eggen, 11/19).

USA Today: "... insurance plans have not proposed changing their coverage, says Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents 1,300 companies covering 200 million Americans. Some of the companies that told USA TODAY that they will continue paying for mammograms for women in their 40s include Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Cigna, Geisinger Health Plan, Group Health Cooperative and WellPoint, which operates Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans in 14 states…