New York Governor David A. Paterson has signed into law a bill that requires New York hospitals to inform breast-cancer patients about the availability of, and insurance coverage for, breast reconstruction prior to undergoing “mastectomy surgery, lymph node dissection, or a lumpectomy.”
The bill was authored by Evan Garfein, MD, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Montefiore Medical Center, New York, New York. Garfein told a New York Times reporter that he advocated for the law after a friend of his, Caprice Christian Greenberg, MD, “co-wrote a paper showing that poor, minority women were much less likely to receive breast reconstruction after cancer than more affluent women.”
While Congress passed the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act in 1998-which guarantees universal coverage for reconstruction after surgery, and more than 50 percent of the states, including New York, soon passed comparable provisions into its laws-disparities in access remain. The new law, A10094B/S6993-B/Information and Access to Breast Reconstruction Surgery, was passed to correct this inequity.
“A disproportionate number of women who are at a socioeconomic disadvantage do not get breast reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy for one of several reasons,” Garfein was quoted as saying in a Montefiore press release. “Either they are unaware of it as an option, they do not know it is covered by Medicaid and Medicare insurance programs, they do not know where to gain access to the procedures, or it is never mentioned to them by their other doctors.” He continued, “Breast reconstruction has been repeatedly shown to improve the quality of life and overall well-being of women who have been treated for breast cancer. This new law will ensure that breast cancer patients from all socioeconomic groups are informed about their options regarding breast reconstruction and about where to get the procedure.”
