DeLauro Delivers Strong Floor Statement in Support of Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act

Press Release

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act (to watch the video, please click here) yesterday (Tuesday 23 September 2008) evening. The House is in the process of considering DeLauro's legislation, which would allow a woman and her doctor to decide whether she should recuperate from a mastectomy or lumpectomy for at least 48 hours in the hospital or whether she has enough support to get quality care at home. A vote on the bill is expected this week and could occur as early as today.

Below is the text of DeLauro's remarks (to watch the video, please click here).

Thank you Mr. Speaker, after too many long years, this is a historic moment. After too many lost opportunities, this is our chance to make a difference and to take an important step towards meeting our commitment to the women of America.

I want to thank my colleague Chairmen Dingell with whom I introduced the very first version of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act over a decade ago. It is his partnership - and that of our colleagues - Chairmen Miller, Rangel, Pallone, Stark, and Andrews - who helped make this day and this vote possible.

More than 12 years ago, I first met Dr. Kristen Zarfos. She walked into my office in Connecticut and told me that HMOs were forcing her to discharge her patients before they were ready - sometimes just hours after mastectomy surgery. Dr. Zarfos' experiences inspired me to get involved. Her tireless work with patients in my state of Connecticut, and with a network of doctors she knew around the country, gathered support for this bill from the grassroots all the way to the Congress.

Today, a woman's chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime is one in eight - almost everyone knows someone who has suffered from this disease. If you have watched a loved one fighting for her life, you understand how important it is to have not only the loving support of family as I did during my fight against ovarian cancer, but also adequate recovery time in the hospital after surgery - so you have the professional care to begin healing and avoid infection. A mastectomy is not an easy surgery - it is physically and emotionally traumatic.

That is what the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act is all about. It says that when it comes to mastectomies and lumpectomies, adequate recovery time in the hospital should not be negotiable. The last thing any woman should be doing at that time is fighting with her insurance company.

This bill does not mandate a 48 hour hospital stay if a patient chooses to go home sooner, nor does it set 48 hours as a maximum amount of time a woman can stay in the hospital. It simply ensures that any decision in favor of a shorter or longer hospital stay will be made by the patient and her doctor, and not an insurance company. It would also ensure women have access to second opinions and adequate hospital stays after having a lumpectomy.

Some may argue that the time for a bill like this has already passed - that states are beginning to address the issue. But the truth is that drive-through mastectomies continue to this day.

At the Energy & Commerce subcommittee hearing this Spring, breast cancer patient Alva Williams testified that she had a mastectomy on March 6, 2006 and was sent home several hours after surgery. Her insurance company would not cover an overnight stay. Ms. Williams had family to take care of her at home, but they had no medical training and she developed an infection in the incisions. Recovering from the infection caused Ms. Williams' chemotherapy treatments to be delayed by six weeks.

All across the nation women continue to suffer the same way that Alva Williams suffered - physically and emotionally and yet without the care they should rightfully be getting for the insurance premiums they have paid. And all across this nation, people everywhere are saying: "No More."

23 million Americans have signed Lifetime Television's petition calling for the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act's passage - now with 221 co-sponsors in the House and Senators Snowe and Landrieu leading 19 cosponsors in the Senate - strong bipartisan support for these most basic patient protections.

I urge my colleagues to support the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act and make this day a powerful turning point. We have a tremendous opportunity today to make it clear to women, to cancer patients, and to their families: we value your health.

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