Staying Abreast of Cancer with Affordable Screenings

Due to a family history of breast cancer, Gina needs a breast MRI and a mammogram every year — but the high price of these preventive screenings was forcing her to put off care. By purchasing her scans through MDsave, Gina was able to stay on top of her health — and save more than 75%!

Meet Gina 

“I live in Mendon, Ohio, which is a small village of maybe 1,000 people. I work at Walmart; I'm a pharmacy tech in training, which is an extremely mind-boggling job. I just thought it was counting pills, you know, but it’s a lot more!”

The Battle Against Breast Cancer

“I'm 54, and I have a family history of breast cancer, so that's why I needed [a breast] MRI. My mom’s a [breast cancer] survivor, and I have two cousins that are carriers of the breast cancer gene. One of them lost their 24-year-old daughter to breast cancer, and the other one just completed chemo[therapy] and is going on to have a double mastectomy and hysterectomy. She knows she’s a carrier, and she doesn't want to have to worry about anything else. 

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 46. So that year, when I was 26, I had my first mammogram. I've only missed one since then, because the doctor told me it wasn't necessary… so, needless to say, I changed doctors! I’ve also had some genetic work done because I wanted to see if I was a carrier, since my cousins were. And [my doctors] found an abnormality, but they don’t know exactly what the abnormality means. They say with research they’ll possibly find out what it is, so I have to have a mammogram and an MRI every year. I just think it’s important.”

Finding MDsave

“My husband found MDsave. I had called the hospital where I had my last MRI and they told me that it would be $1800. And I said, 'What?’ and they said, ‘Well, if you pay in advance, we can get it down to $1400.’ So I thought, ‘Ok, we’re gonna have to cancel this, just for a little bit, because I’m going to have to start saving up some money.’ 

My husband went around and found some places that did open MRIs that were cheap, but none of [those facilities] did the breast MRI… but then he found MDsave. I was looking through the webpage and saw that I had to prepay, so I called the hospital and said, ‘I’ve never done anything like this before. You work with MDsave, right? Is this legit?’ And they said ‘Yes!’ So I went on and purchased the MRI. I had no issues getting it done. [The hospital worker] just pulled up my MDsave voucher on their computer and it went smoothly. I have not received a bill!” 

Superhero Healthcare Providers

“I used Dupont [Hospital] in Fort Wayne, [Indiana]. It was an hour drive, but the people were friendly and helpful. I explained some issues I'd had with my previous MRI, and [the imaging technician] took care of them. Because you lay like you're flying, like Superman does, you don't get any fresh air! So she turned on a fan to make sure I got some fresh air. It helped a lot.”

Making the Impossible Possible

“That [initial $1,800] price was going to stop me from getting [an MRI] until I could save up some money for it. $457 was a whole lot easier to come up with than $1,800. If you need something and you can't afford it, check out MDsave!”