Quote Originally Posted by bmccasland View Post
OK, I'll ask a dumb (?) question .. I've been getting Pap smears for years, doesn't this test for HPV? Have my annual physical in a couple of months and inquiring minds want to know.

(and yeah, I know, "there's no such thing as a dumb question".)
+1. I'm curious to know this also. I know very little about cervical cancer and HPV.

Also, for people in US, how does getting tested for HPV impact insurance coverage? Just curious, if you test positive, but don't have cancer and do nothing, then later get diagnosed with cancer, will insurance still cover treatment??

The reason I ask this is something I recall my mother telling me. I do not know if this is still true, so if someone knows it isn't, please correct me. A friend of the family has been fighting breast cancer. She carries one of the genes that makes you significantly more likely to get the cancer. She wanted her daughter to get tested for the gene, but her daughter was reluctant because if she were found positive for the gene, she would need to take preventative measures for breast cancer (ie preventative mastectomy), otherwise insurance would not cover treatment later on in life if she were to get breast cancer.