Emmy-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus has revealed she is battling breast cancer and, in doing so, highlighted the case for universal health care.

Louis-Dreyfus, 56, who plays foul-mouthed fictitious US president Selina Meyer on HBO’s award-winningVeep, said on Thursday (local time): “1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I’m the one,” in a short post on her social media platforms.

“The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let’s fight all cancers and make universal health care a reality,” the actress wrote.

Just when you thought… pic.twitter.com/SbtYChwiEj

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) September 28, 2017

Louis-Dreyfus did not give any further details of her health status.

A statement from HBO confirmed that Louis-Dreyfus received the diagnosis earlier this month, one day after she won and Emmy for her role as former VP-turned-president Selina Meyer on the hit HBO comedy.

It was Louis-Dreyfus’s sixth-straight Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the HBO series Veep.

The win set a record for the most wins by a performer for the same role in the same show, breaking the record held by Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown) and Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show).

She first rose to fame in the early 1990s for her role as Elaine on NBC’s Seinfeld, which also won her several awards.

Her comment on Twitter about the need for universal healthcare in the US is in keeping with other statements critical of the Republican party.

“My father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France,” Dreyfus said at the SAG awards earlier this tear. “I’m an American patriot, and I love this country. Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes, and this immigrant ban is a blemish and it’s un-American.”

Soon after revealing her diagnosis, the popular actress received support from fellow actors Sarah Silverman, Debra Messing, Veep star Tony Hale and Christina Applegate who last year underwent a double mastectomy.

While Veep is set to finish at the end of its next season, the seventh, that decision was not influenced by the diagnosis, HBO said.

In a statement HBO said: “Our love and support go out to Julia and her family at this time. We have every confidence she will get through this with her usual tenacity and undaunted spirit, and look forward to her return to health and to HBO for the final season of Veep.”