WASHINGTON - Controversy is brewing after some doctors are saying women can wait two years between mammograms and start them at age 50 rather than 40. This is a major reversal and women are worried about what to do and who will pay. If they don't want to wait until they're 50 as these new recommendations advise, they wonder if their mammograms will still be covered.

The nation's capital has the highest risk of breast cancer deaths in the U.S. Some D.C. women are wondering why a government task force is saying when it comes to mammograms, less is more.

"It just seems like we're going backwards," said one woman.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends women age 50 and older get mammograms every other year, saying they'll get the same benefits of a yearly exam but with less harm. A Chevy Chase woman got a mammogram Tuesday but says she may skip it next year.

"After I get more information, I might question whether I should go onto an every other year routine," shared mammogram patient Ann Gilbert.

But this advocacy group founder says she's appalled the task force now says 40 is too young to start screening.

"I lost a girlfriend. She was 35-years-old to breast cancer," said Pink Jams Founder Christa Floresca. "I know another woman who is 32 and is just finishing up her treatment so I'm not buying the over 50 rule."

A leading breast cancer researcher at George Washington University Hospital is outraged. She says the new guidelines will mean more deaths.

"This is a cost-cutting not a cost-saving measure," stated GWU hospital radiologist Dr. Rachel Brem. "This really is trading money for lives."

Triangle resident Rachel Bellamy weighed in, saying, "If you tell a woman she doesn't do it 'til she's 50, you cut down 10 years of paying for 'em!"

A group who represents health plans serving 200 million Americans says women shouldn't worry about their coverage.

A spokeswoman said "insurers aren't likely to change their behaviors based on this. If you're a 40-year-old woman and your doctor gives you a referral for a mammogram, then it should continue to be covered."

Dr. Becky Bittner works with breast cancer patients. At 43, she became one. A mammogram caught her cancer.

She said, "If we had not had that screening mammogram, who knows what would have happened after that?"

The group "Consumer Watchdog" says it's worried health insurers and HMOs will use the announcement as an excuse to delay or deny coverage to women who listen to their doctors and continue getting annual mammograms.

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