YNN.com

Watertown / Fort Drum

Change region

  66º

You are not signed in  |  Sign in here  |  Help

You're viewing a lite version of ynn.com

Time Warner Cable customers: Sign in with your TWC ID for video access.

Get my TWC ID. | Get TWC service. | Read the FAQ.

08/02/2012 12:22 PM

New law includes coverage for partial mastectomy

New law includes coverage for partial mastectomy
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's newest laws include one that will require health insurance to cover reconstructive surgery after partial mastectomies.

Health insurers in New York must already cover the cost of reconstructive surgery after a full mastectomy.

Sen. Kenneth Lavalle of Suffolk County says partial mastectomies are the most common form of breast cancer surgery and women need to have the procedure covered.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos says the coverage is necessary because of advances in medical technology that are making partial mastectomies possible when full mastectomies were once required.

Lavalle is a Republican who sponsored the bill with Democratic Assemblywoman Vivien Cook of Queens.

There was no estimate of how much the law might cost health insurers or policy holders.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.