Breast Cancer Bills
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- KEYWORDS:
- BREAST NEOPLASMS
- EARLY DETECTION OF CANCER
- LEGISLATION
- PATIENT EDUCATION AS TOPIC
- PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICES
- WOMEN'S HEALTH
Bills intended to improve breast cancer education and diagnosis and to assist patients with the disease were the focus of an October 7 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.
The bills (HR 995, HR 1691, HR 1740, and HR 2279 [http://thomas.loc.gov]) proposed such measures as making the length of a hospital stay following breast surgery a medical rather than an insurance issue, requiring insurers that already cover diagnostic mammography to extend coverage for annual screening mammography to women aged 40 years or older, and promoting a public health campaign to make young women aware that they are also at risk for breast cancer.
Rep Frank Pallone Jr (D, NJ), chairman of the subcommittee, said that while deaths from breast cancer continue to decline, more can be done. “Not every American has access to good preventive services; not every American has the good fortune to …
