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Nov 30, 2009 5:54 pm US/Central
'Botax' Could Hurt Preventative Surgeries
Sana Syed
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A health care reform bill that costs nearly $1 trillion is now being debated on the floor of the Senate and just about everyone wants to know how it will be funded.
The "Botax" is one proposal. It puts a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgeries and procedures. At least one North Texas surgeon says it could hurt those who take preventative measures against breast cancer.
Judy Slakmon is 50. She had a double mastectomy a few years back even though she was never diagnosed with cancer.
"Part of it was that I didn't want my mom to have to go through it with me as she had with my sisters."
Slakmon's two sisters were both diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. Slakmon had a genetic test done and she found out she had an 85 percent chance of getting the disease if she did not remove both of her breasts.
Slakmon's insurance paid for the eight hour double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
But now the White House and Senate Democrats are proposing a 5 percent tax on breast augmentation, tummy tucks, wrinkle-smoothing injections like Botox and other procedures as they search for ways to pay for the trillion dollar health care expansion.
The problem is, as the law stands today, the preventative measure of reconstructing breasts before the cancer shows up is still not defined as a medical procedure, and it could be taxed.
"Now we're going to have to start throwing in this other issue of well, it's supposed to be covered, but if it's not, there might be a 5 percent tax on an ultimately $25,000 procedure. That's not what people want to do," says plastic surgeon Dr. Kelly Kunkel.
That tax would add another $1,250 dollars to the cost. Dr. Kunkel says it's hard enough to get every insurance company to pay for reconstruction.
"Now it's going to fall to some tax-assessor collector person to make a determination is that cosmetic or not. They're not trained to do that," says Dr. Kunkel.
Slakmon says the "Botax" could force some women to walk away from preventative measures.
"If you put it off, there's a possibility you'll be diagnosed with cancer and you're never guaranteed that you'll survive it," says Slakmon.
This bill could be implemented as early as January.
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