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S 688 111th Congress Senate Health Cancer Employee benefits and pensions Health care costs and insurance Health care coverage and access Hospital care Surgery and anesthesia Women's health

Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2009

Introduced: March 24, 2009 See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 24, 2009
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mar 24, 2009
Introduced in Senate
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Breast Cancer Patient Protect Act of 2009 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to require a group health plan that provides medical and surgical benefits to ensure that inpatient (and in the case of a lumpectomy, outpatient) coverage and radiation therapy are provided for breast cancer treatment. Prohibits such a plan from: (1) restricting benefits for any hospital length of stay to less than 48 hours in connection with a mastectomy or breast conserving surgery or 24 hours in connection with a lymph node dissection, insofar as the attending physician, in consultation with the patient, determines such stay to be medically necessary; or (2) requiring that a provider obtain authorization from the plan or issuer for prescribing any such length of stay.

Requires such a plan or issuer to: (1) provide notice to each participant and beneficiary regarding the coverage required under this Act; and (2) ensure that coverage is provided for secondary consultations.

Prohibits a group health plan from taking specified actions to avoid the requirements of this Act.

Applies such requirements to health insurance issuers offering coverage in the individual market.

Allows a health insurance issuer that provides individual health insurance coverage to nonrenew or discontinue an individual's coverage based on the intentional concealment of material facts regarding a health condition related to the condition for which coverage is being claimed.

What's happening now March 24, 2009

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1