On January 3, 2019, the 116th Congress was sworn in, with Democratic party leadership.  At 4am I had yet to close my eyes, even though I had a full day ahead of me. I couldn’t sleep because January 3rd was the day we had worked for two years to reach.  The day the Nancy Pelosi regained reclaimed the gave and became Speaker of the House. This was the day that ended the Republican majority in all three branches of Federal Government.  We made it. Checks and balances have been brought back to the US Government.

Americans with pre-existing conditions, families with medically complex children and adults, people who are chronically ill and in need of sufficient healthcare, all relaxed just a bit, knowing that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not be repealed by legislation for now.  I was one of them. My daughter Emma, a former 28 week micro-preemie twin along with her sister Sara, relies on the protections against pre-existing condition exclusions and the lifetime coverage limits the ACA put a stop to…

When Speaker Pelosi reclaimed her gavel I breathed a little easier knowing that the Republican party agenda to repeal the ACA  without a replacement cannot pass while the Democratic party leads one of the chambers of Congress. We saw that the GOP could not repeal the ACA even  when Republicans held the majority in both chambers, but the devastating threat constantly loomed. With Democrats in the majority of the House, the threat has been somewhat neutralized for now.  Instead of being on the defensive, we can resume and expand our plans to improve the framework and execution of the ACA instead of fighting off its demise.

I have never, in my 40+ years of life, followed politics so closely as I have over the past two years.  I have never been so personally impacted or attacked by members of my own government and my fellow citizens who support an agenda that includes removing healthcare and Medicaid supports for millions of families, including my own.  That is why I joined forces with the Little Lobbyists. I could not sit and remain silent as Emma’s right to access healthcare was attacked, belittled and dismissed as unimportant. My daughter is not expendable. None of our children should be thought of as a budget line item.

I was astounded when Speaker Pelosi shared credit for the Democrat’s victory with “our Little Lobbyists,” in her first speech as Speaker to House Members and the American public. When she credited part of the progress we have made during these scary and tumultuous times to the Little Lobbyists it hit a lot of us like a lightning bolt!  It served as validation that the innumerable hours, late nights at our kitchen tables, butterflies as we approach the microphone to speak, or write to share stories about our families have, in fact, made a difference. In those early morning hours, between enteral tube feeds, checking ventilator settings, covering for another missed nursing shift, emergency room visits and lengthy inpatient stays, we realized that the time we have given in service of the Little Lobbyists goals have been an important part of the fight to stem the erosion of healthcare in our country.

We now have allies leading the US House of Representatives, and no greater champion than Speaker Pelosi. January 3rd was the day the landscape has changed. It was the day we have had circled on our calendars since before the midterm elections.  The day everything changed.

Stacy’s daughter Emma is the reason she cannot sit and stay silent.

Submitted to www.regulations.gov/docket?D=CMS-2018-0015 April 19, 2018

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: CMS-9924-P

Little Lobbyists is an organization of families with one thing in common: we all have medically complex children requiring significant medical care.  Our mission is to advocate on behalf of the millions of such children across the country to ensure that their stories are heard and their access to quality health care is protected.  

America badly needs changes to health care laws and regulations that expand access to care and decrease costs; however, these changes must not come at the expense of necessary care and financial protections for vulnerable children and their families.  Unfortunately, that is just what the proposed rule would do. By allowing “short term” insurance plans for up to a year in length that would not contain basic protections provided by the Affordable Care Act – including the prohibition on discrimination against individuals with preexisting conditions and the prohibition of annual caps on medical care – children with complex medical needs across the country, and their families, will be harmed in multiple ways.  

As is the case with many medical conditions, parents of children with complex medical needs are frequently not in the position to know about and anticipate the care their children will need, through no fault of their own.  For such families, the protections afforded by the Affordable Care Act are literally life-saving. Children born prematurely, or with other complex medical needs, often require extended hospital stays with medical care billed into the millions of dollars.  The need for comprehensive medical care frequently continues long after they are finally discharged home. The protections in the Affordable Care Act ensure that insurance providers cannot deny coverage for medical care because their medical bills reach a certain threshold.  It ensures that they have access to lifesaving prescription drugs. It ensures that the preexisting conditions these children are born with will not prevent their ability to access care into the future.

The “short-term” insurance plans proposed in this rule eviscerates those protections.  Families purchasing such plans for health coverage, whose children subsequently encounter medical difficulties, will soon find these insurance plans to be worthless – failing to cover the specific, life-saving care their child needs, and taking coverage away completely if care becomes too expensive.  On top of the trauma and stress that comes with a sick child, these families will face financial ruin as well. While our focus is on medically complex children, this outcome is no less true for any individual who encounters unforeseen medical complications, be it through sickness or an accident.

The damage would not be limited to those families buying short-term plans created by this proposed rule.  For those families that remain in ACA-compliant plans to ensure they receive the care their child needs, the cost of insurance premiums would increase, leading to financial hardship – realities that the proposed rule explicitly concedes.  Once again, children and families who are most in need of care and financial protection will be the most negatively affected.

As we stated at the outset, America’s health insurance system needs fixing.  Access to care must be expanded so that all Americans can receive the care they require, and the cost of this care must be controlled so that financial hardship and bankruptcy due to medical care is reduced to a terrible relic of bygone days.  There are ways of meeting this vital goal. Americans demand it. Unfortunately, this proposed rule, which provides a path to less comprehensive care and higher medical costs for our nation’s most vulnerable, is a harmful leap backwards.

On behalf of the millions of children with complex medical needs and their families, we ask that the proposed rule be rescinded and replaced by one that truly sets access to comprehensive and affordable health care for all Americans as its cornerstone.