Bureaucrats have no place in making decisions on breast cancer care (Rep. John Shadegg)

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  It is a time for women across America to highlight the importance of prevention and to celebrate the millions of breast cancer survivors across our nation. This year, it is also a time to recognize the looming danger of government-run health care and what it could mean for America’s women.  If Democrats in Congress pass a bill that allows Washington to take over health care, future generations of American women may be at risk.

The United States is the world leader in cancer survival.  Our health care system embraces innovation and allows patients to seek the doctors, tests, and treatments that are right for them.  As a result, the overall cancer survival rate for women in America is the highest in the world.

This is also true of the breast cancer survival rate.  The United States is again a world leader with a survival rate of 83.9%.  This five-year rate tops Canada, beats Europe, and positively trounces England’s 69.8%.  As Democrats in Congress propose we move to a government-run system like the ones in these other nations, I cannot help but fear for the women whose lives could be lost. I also cannot help but think of my sister.

One of my sisters is a breast cancer survivor. Throughout my career in Congress, I have worked on health care legislation in the House of Representatives, and with each bill I have kept her in mind.

When the House Democrats’ bill went through the Energy and Commerce Committee, I did my best to ensure that women like my sister would have access to the quality care they need to fight and prevent breast cancer.  I offered an amendment that would have ensured that US survival rates remain high and women had the option of choosing.  But Democrats shot it down.

Washington liberals continue to propose health care bills that would regulate what constitutes coverage; they want the government to decide what you and I need in a health plan.  Conversely, what will help Americans most is a system in which you and I can decide what we need as individuals from our unique health plans.  That’s why my amendment would have allowed women to choose a plan that focused on breast cancer survival if a government-designed plan does not meet their needs.

Breast cancer is an issue of life and death.  It is a personal issue.  Washington bureaucrats have no place making decisions of this magnitude—intimate decisions about our health—instead of us, especially if it means that fewer women will be able to defeat a disease that concerns all women and their families.