[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER TREATMENT ACT OF 1999

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, it is estimated that this year alone 
approximately 44,000 women will lose their lives to breast cancer and 
an additional 15,000 will die from cervical cancer. As these 
treacherous diseases continue to spread in women, researchers work 
diligently in hopes of finding a cure for cancerous cells and in hopes 
of providing solutions to improve and extend the lives of cancer 
patients. Yet with all this new technology and new medications, scores 
of low-income women, mothers, daughters and wives, will never know the 
benefits of this new research because they simply cannot afford 
treatment for their potentially fatal cancer.
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) will soon introduce a bill 
that will provide States with an optional Medicaid benefit to provide 
coverage for treatment to low-income women who are screened and 
diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through our Federal CDC Early 
Detection Program. With little cost to taxpayers, passing this fiscally 
conservative legislation will literally mean saving the lives of 
thousands of women. I urge each and every one of our colleagues to 
sponsor this bill.

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