Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 1916, the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act. On behalf of the 4 percent of American children born annually with congenital anomalies or birth defects, I am very proud to sponsor this much-needed legislation. This bill will ensure that health plans do not deny or delay medically necessary treatment of congenital anomalies. In many cases, coverage for well-known anomalies, like heart defects or spina bifida, is already the standard. But for babies who have oral defects such as cleft palates, skeletal defects, congenital cataracts, or hearing defects, insurance companies have systematically denied or delayed medically necessary treatments. I became a sponsor of this legislation after Kevin Koser testified at our Health Subcommittee, which you are a member of, Madam Speaker, about his beautiful son, Kannon. He shared with the subcommittee how Kannon asked Santa Claus for teeth so he could ``chomp big bites'' of food. I was really shaken by that and by the fact that in our country, such a rich and great country as America, we would put treatment that allows a child to eat out of reach because of insurance red tape. A baby named Rosie in my congressional district is one of the 1,300 babies born in the United States each year with congenital cataracts. In just a few months, her family spent over $4,000 out of pocket on contact lenses for her.…”