ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY, Nos. 2550 and 11

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 16, 1996

      The Assembly Health Committee reports favorably an Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill Nos. 2550 and 11.

      This committee substitute requires health insurers, including hospital service corporations, medical service corporations, health service corporations, commercial insurers and health maintenance organizations, to provide insurance coverage for the costs associated with all stages of the reconstruction that may be necessary following breast cancer surgery, including symmetry operations on the opposite breast, in order to restore a woman's body to wholeness. Insurers and health maintenance organizations are required under current law to provide prostheses and, under any contract for health care services providing outpatient x-ray or radiation therapy, outpatient chemotherapy following surgical procedures in connection with the treatment of breast cancer as a part of the outpatient x-ray or radiation therapy.

      Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, afflicting 182,000 women per year, striking one out of nine and causing the death of 46,000 women a year. Coping with this disease is a medical and emotional struggle since it carries with it the fear of disfigurement in a society that places great value on physical appearance. Breast reconstruction is extremely important to restore a sense of wholeness and well being in society, family, and interpersonal relationships. There is no known cause or cure for this epidemic.