Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize September as Alopecia Areata Awareness Month. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease, resulting in the loss of hair on the body, affecting about 7 million Americans. Additionally, of the 7 million Americans battling alopecia, almost 15 percent--or just over 1 million--are under 12 years of age. This is because alopecia often presents itself at an early stage in life, with no warning and no prevention to be had. It appears on the skin, most often as one or more small, round, smooth patches of hair loss on the scalp, and can progress to total hair loss. My constituent, Deirdre Nero, first informed me of the effects and seriousness of alopecia. Deirdre, who has alopecia, is a legislative liaison and secretary of the board for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Earlier this month, Deirdre and her fellow NAAF participants were on Capitol Hill advocating on behalf of a bill, H.R. 2925, that is called Legislation to Provide Coverage for Wigs As Durable Medical Equipment under the Medicare Program. That bill title says it all. It is a commonsense reform bill that will make a simple change to the definition of durable medical equipment under the Social Security Act to include cranial prosthetics, alleviating large out-of-pocket expenses for patients. Mr.…”