House Committee Approves Breast Cancer, Prenatal Care Bills

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 19 Sep 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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On Wednesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill (HR 758) by voice vote that would mandate minimal hospital-stay coverage for women undergoing breast cancer surgery, as well as a measure (S 1760) that would reauthorize the Healthy Start program, CQ Today reports. The committee also approved several other health-related measures (Armstrong/Teitelbaum, CQ Today, 9/17).

According to BNA Health Care Daily, the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2007 would require health insurance companies to pay for a minimum hospital stay if a patient requires hospitalization after a mastectomy, lumpectomy or lymph node dissection. Under the bill, health plans also would be barred from restricting hospital stay benefits to less than 48 hours for a patient who has a mastectomy or lumpectomy and to less than 24 hours for a patient who has a lymph node dissection.

The committee also approved by voice vote an amendment by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) that would bar insurance companies from withdrawing coverage of patients who accidentally omitted health information in their application that was unrelated to the conditions for which they were seeking coverage. America's Health Insurance Plans President Karen Ignagni on Tuesday had written to Barton asking him to delay action on the amendment, adding that AHIP had developed its own proposal that allows insurance companies to rescind coverage only if patients withheld information "that should have been included in a complete and accurate response" (BNA Health Care Daily, 9/18).

The committee also approved a measure that would reauthorize the Healthy Start program at $120 million annually from fiscal years 2008 to 2013. Healthy Start provides grants to communities with high infant mortality rates to improve prenatal care (CQ Today, 9/17).

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), chair of the committee, urged its members to encourage House leadership to schedule votes on the bills prior to the end of the month, when the legislative sessions ends (BNA Health Care Daily, 9/18). He added that he would "push like hell" to get the measures through Congress next week (CQ Today, 9/17).

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