Bill sets stay in hospital for breast cancer
WASHINGTON - A congressional panel yesterday said it has bipartisan support for a bill requiring health insurers to pay for a minimum 48-hour hospital stay after breast cancer treatment, to combat what critics call "drive-through" surgeries.
About 20 states have such a minimum insurance requirement for mastectomies or lumpectomies.
"Having access to appropriate medical care should not be dependent on the state you live in," said Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat and chair of the health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
The bill has bipartisan support and 219 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. A companion bill in the Senate has 19 cosponsors thus far.
About two-thirds of the 125,000 women who undergo mastectomies in the United States annually leave the hospital a few hours after surgery, without regard to their health, because their insurance will not pay for a longer stay, according to testimony from Dr. Kristen Zarfos, a fellow at the American College of Surgeons.
But America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry group for most major health plans such as UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc, called the bill unnecessary.
"We do not think that it is a good idea on the state level or the federal level to be putting clinical guidelines into statute," group spokeswoman Susan Pisano said.
"We think there are women who are satisfied with shorter lengths of stay," she said. 