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Marcia Cross Lobbies for Breast Cancer Bill

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Marcia Cross, mom of twins Eden and Savannah,
one-year-old in February, is trading in Wisteria Lane for Capital Hill these
days. Her current campaign to help pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection
Act has brought the Desperate Housewives star together with a group of
lawmakers, a Maryland breast cancer survivor, and officials from the Lifetime
cable network. The goal: to prevent the practice of what they call “drive-by
mastectomies” happening to women across the country.

“One
in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” Marcia
said. “I’ve seen it up close and personally. I’m sorry to say I don’t have
a friend, but friends who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, and when I
first heard about drive-by mastectomies I was shocked.”

The
legislation Marcia is campaigning for requires health insurers to cover up to a
48-hour stay in a hospital after a woman has had a mastectomy, if the doctor
and patient deem it necessary. Right now, only 20 states allow doctors and
patients to make that decision. Supporters of the bill say that a large
percentage of the estimated 90,000 women who have mastectomies each year are
sent home within a day, or even just hours, after surgery. That’s to save on
hospital bills for the insurers, of course – much to the suffering of many
patients.

Marcia
hopes that this issue will be one Hollywood can get behind. She’s suggesting
that television shows, such as Grey’s Anatomy, dedicate an episode to drive-by
mastectomies.

“I don’t want this to be a one-hit day,” she
said after the news conference. “I really want to raise awareness and get
this done after 12 years. I don’t want it to go another five or 10.”