Congress 'Slow To Act' On Bills Expanding Hospital Stay Requirements, Chicago Tribune Reports

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 12 Mar 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Congress has been "slow to act" on legislation (HR 758, S 459) that would require health coverage providers to expand hospital-stay coverage for women undergoing breast cancer surgery, but advocates are hopeful the bill will be passed during the current session, the Chicago Tribune reports (Wyckoff, Chicago Tribune, 3/9).

The bill would require insurers to extend coverage for a minimum of 48 hours in the hospital, if requested by the patient and doctor, for a woman undergoing a mastectomy or lumpectomy. The bill would mandate coverage for a minimum stay of 24 hours for a lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who has called for extended hospital-stay coverage since 1996, said insurers often refuse to cover a hospital stay, forcing women to leave the hospital prematurely (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/31/07). According to the American College of Surgeons, the industry standard for hospital stays after a patient undergoes a mastectomy is a minimum of one night.

The House bill currently has 217 co-sponsors and the Senate version has 18 in addition to sponsor Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the Tribune reports. DeLauro's office said she is "cautiously optimistic" about the bill's chances. Twenty states currently have laws that limit the number of outpatient mastectomies. Where the state law is stricter than the proposed federal law, the state law would apply, according to the Tribune. Christine Laronga, chief of the Comprehensive Breast Program at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, said she would consider allowing a patient to have an outpatient mastectomy only if the person has had one before. She added that most people who have a mastectomy stay one night, while a woman who has a mastectomy with reconstructive breast surgery stays two to five days on average.

Mohit Ghose of America's Health Insurance Plans said research has found that outpatient mastectomies have been successful in treating breast cancer. "If we can get people out of hospitals quicker, that's going to be a better thing," Ghose said, adding that because some diseases can spread in hospitals, it could be better for people to recover at home (Chicago Tribune, 3/9).

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