Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are here today, the culmination of a 6-year journey. The IMPROVE Act is a combination of three bills. One bill is a bill that allows Medicare to follow the patient; another bill is a bill for spousal impoverishment, to prevent that; and the third bill, and the primary bill in this package, is a bill that we call the ACE Kids Act. Mr. Speaker, there are, luckily, not a large number, about 2 million children in this country, who have multiple complex medical conditions that are life-threatening. These are the sickest of the sick of our young population. About 500,000 of these children are Medicaid eligible. In other words, their families qualify for low-income health insurance called Medicaid. Mr. Speaker, under current law, the parents of these children have to create the healthcare network on a case-by-case basis for their child. They also cannot seek healthcare across State lines that is covered by Medicaid. So current law makes it very difficult on these sickest-of- the-sick children. The ACE Kids Act changes that, Mr. Speaker. It allows the creation of a medical home that can cross State lines, that can coordinate care. It is optional. The States do not have to participate in this program. The parents of the child do not have to participate in this program. But if they do wish to participate, you create a health home for the child wherein everything is coordinated.…”