Political Quotes

“The stated goal of the bill is a good one, making sure those who, through no fault of their own, are born with a condition requiring extensive medical care can eat, drink, and thrive. I would love to be able to tell families like the one in my district with two children experiencing ectodermal dysplasia that insurance would pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars of surgery necessary to allow their teeth and mouths to function properly. But this bill needs more work, and my amendment could have addressed its most significant flaw. Had the bill gone through regular order, I would have offered this corrective amendment. The biggest problem here is that not one person can articulate which medical procedures or treatments would be required to be covered by insurance. The bill is titled healthy smiles, referencing cleft palate, ectodermal dysplasia, et cetera, but not one person can articulate which medical procedures or treatments would be required to be covered by insurance. This is, in part, because the FDA has no statutory or regulatory definition of what a congenital anomaly or birth defect is. Further, one part of the bill requires insurers to ``include any medically necessary item or service to . . .…”