Breast Cancer

BREAST CANCER -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 26, 2008)

* Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important bill. In New Jersey, 132 of every 100,000 of our mothers, daughters, and grandmothers were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2000 and 2004. It is difficult to find a person who doesn't know someone who is affected by it.

* Despite the prevailing medical standard of two to four days to recuperate and gain physical and emotional strength after breast cancer surgeries, ``drive-by mastectomies'' increasingly have become the norm. Women have been regularly faced with being sent home from the hospital a few hours after surgery by HMOs that refuse to pay for longer stays.

* This bill would guarantee a minimum hospital stay of 48 hours for a woman having a mastectomy, and 24 hours for a woman undergoing a lymph node removal. Importantly, this bill will ensure that any decision to have a shorter hospital stay will be made by the patient and her doctor--not an insurance company more concerned with the bottom line than the health of the patient.

* Forcing women to leave the hospital too soon after surgery is dangerous and demeaning. This bill will provide breast cancer patients undergoing one of the most physically and emotionally traumatic experiences of their lives, the care and dignity they deserve. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I hope the Senate acts quickly to get this bill to the President's desk.

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