Accelerating Kid Access to Care Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. TRAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I express my sincere gratitude to Ranking Member Pallone, Chair Rodgers, Ranking Member Eshoo, Chairman Guthrie, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks, and my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee for their unanimous support of this important bipartisan, bicameral legislation.

When medical professionals determine that clinical care is necessary to treat a child battling a rare disease, there should be no reason that administrative burdens get in the way. However, that is exactly what happens far too often to children with complex medical needs.

In fact, when children with serious health conditions lack access to the specialized care that they need in their home State, parents can be forced to navigate the complicated process of working with healthcare providers and State Medicaid officials to arrange for out-of-State care.

Unfortunately, those same parents are often met with burdensome requirements that can lead to significant delays for children in desperate need of care. In some cases, it can prevent access to care entirely.

Mr. Speaker, the Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act is urgently needed to eliminate this red tape and ensure that children receive appropriate, often lifesaving care that they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, to highlight the importance of getting this bipartisan legislation over the finish line, I highlight a story from a patient who was negatively impacted by the onerous and time-consuming Medicaid provider screening and enrollment process.

Almost 3 years ago, a baby, who I will name Lily, was born in a rural State with her esophagus in two separate segments and connected abnormally to her windpipe. Since this condition requires a particularly complicated procedure to correct it, doctors explained to the family that there are only two places in the country where it could be done. One of them was Boston Children's Hospital, in my home State of Massachusetts.

Mr. Speaker, like most parents, Lily's mom and dad were immediately ready to travel to Boston, where the surgeons were standing by to perform the lifesaving operation. Instead, Lily, who was a Medicaid recipient, was waiting for her home State to enroll the eight providers at Boston Children's Hospital who had the expertise to perform this complex surgery.

Her State, confused about the rules concerning out-of-State provider enrollment, wouldn't authorize the surgery that Lily desperately needed. Over the next 7 months, Lily's surgery was delayed and rescheduled over 3 times. As she waited, she lived with a floppy airway that could have collapsed at any moment.

Mr. Speaker, clearly the stakes are far too high to allow bureaucratic hurdles to stand in the way of urgent medical care for children like Lily. Failing to address this issue will have severe and far-reaching consequences, not only on children who are battling complications that could be addressed with immediate care, but also their families, who are forced to endure significant financial and emotional strain when the care is delayed.

What is worse is that these delays also lead to a greater reliance on emergency services and drive up overall healthcare costs.

Passage of the Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act is instrumental in fixing this issue. This bipartisan legislation will get us one step closer to ensuring that no child on Medicaid has to endure unnecessary delays when they need critical care outside of their home State.

That is why I am so grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both Chambers who were instrumental in drafting the advancement of this legislation, including Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and Senators Grassley and Bennet.

Mr. Speaker, that is why I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to join us in passing this strong, bipartisan, and potentially lifesaving legislation.

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