[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              BREAST CANCER PATIENT PROTECTION ACT OF 1997

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Breast 
Cancer Patient Protection Act. I am proud to be an original cosponsor 
of this legislation. This bill is about ensuring that women receive 
equitable treatment in our Nation's health care system. It puts the 
care of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters with breast cancer before 
the financial interests of insurance companies.
  One of every eight women in America will develop breast cancer. These 
women will undergo breast cancer treatments such as mastectomies or 
lymph node removal. Insurance companies know they can cut costs and 
increase profits if they give skimpy care to these women. Some 
insurance plans send women home just hours after breast cancer surgery 
with patients groggy from anesthesia, in pain and with drainage tubes 
still in place. Other plans require outpatient mastectomies.
  The American College of Surgeons and the American Medical Association 
say that most patients are not ready to be sent home a few hours after 
surgery. It is just not good medicine. I believe these doctors, who 
want to do the right thing and give the right care, should not be 
discouraged or penalized for not following the insurance company's 
guidelines.
  This legislation ensures that women with breast cancer receive the 
medical attention they need and deserve. The bill ensures that health 
plans which provide medical and surgical benefits for the treatment of 
breast cancer provide a minimum length of stay of 48 hours for patients 
undergoing mastectomies and 24 hours for those undergoing lymph node 
removals. Under this bill, patients and their physicians--not insurance 
companies--can determine if a shorter period of hospital stay is 
appropriate.
  So, I salute the authors of this bill, but I also salute the women, 
the doctors, and the medical facilities that organized to challenge 
these unfair practices. I want to see managed care, not mandated care. 
And I don't want to see doctors managed. There is a fundamental 
distinction. We have to start getting our priorities straight and end 
the needless pain and neglect of women with breast cancer. This bill is 
a step in the right direction.

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