ROANOKE, Va. – When Leanne Keen was 30 years old, she was diagnosed with BRCA2 mutation. She said her risk of breast cancer was 83%. So, she chose to do a preventative mastectomy. She has to get a breast MRI, but they can range anywhere from $1,000 to $1,800, which prevents her from getting them every year.

“You kind of push it out. You do every other year instead of every year. You try to save your HSA funds specifically for that and hope that nothing else comes up. So this will help me to get the testing I need every year, and I think it’ll do the same for a lot of women,” said Keen.

Keen is an advocate of HB1828, a new Virginia law passed by the state’s General Assembly, which will take effect on January 1, 2026.

Under the law, no coinsurance, copayment, or deductible can be charged to patients needing diagnostic or supplemental breast imaging for all state-regulated individual and group insurance plans. Some of the exams included are diagnostic mammograms, breast ultrasounds, or breast MRIs.

The Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation is an advocate of the law. This group has a screening and diagnostic fund that helps people in Southwest Virginia who don’t have insurance or are underinsured, but with HB1828 passing, more people across the state will be helped.

“We think this will make people able to get those diagnostic tests that they need to find out, to confirm or rule out whether they have breast cancer,” said Director of Policy Kirsta Millar with the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation.

Susan G. Komen also advocated for the law and said imaging is necessary for the early detection of breast cancer.

“When we detect breast cancer early, we are able to make sure that we handle the burdensome cost of breast cancer, as if you find it late, it is more costly to treat and also more deadly. And so we wanna save lives and that is exactly what this bill will do,” said Regional Manager, State Policy and Advocacy Deandrea Newsome with Susan G. Komen.

Out-of-pocket costs can range from $234 for diagnostic mammograms to more than $1,000 for a breast MRI, according to Susan G. Komen.

Keen works at Clinch Valley Health Medical Center in Richlands, Virginia, with about 30 to 50 women a year who are at high risk for developing breast cancer.

“A lot of the women that we face who might not even have genetic mutations, but you know, their calculated risk is over 20%. There’s a lot of anxiety with that, right? We tell people that you have the highest risk. This is what we recommend that you do, and then they’re not able to financially do so. So, it comes with a lot feeling like you’re kind of failing yourself and that you can’t do this,” said Keen.

Newsome said Susan G. Komen is also working on another bill across the country that would eliminate the cost of a co-pay or co-insurance towards getting genetic testing.

With the passage of the new law HB1828, Virginia joins 28 other states, including Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Keen is glad there’s now a law that allows her to stay on top of her health, and it will help other people.

“I think it’s going to change a lot of lives in Virginia. We’re going to see probably a lot ofcancers detected in the first year or two that this law is passed, I believe, because a lot of women are gonna utilize this,” said Keen.