Children with Medically Complex Conditions and Their Families to Meet with Congress For Speak Now For Kids Family Advocacy Day

September 4, 2018

Under the U.S. House-Passed American Health Care Act of 2017, Children’s Medicaid Funding Would Be Cut By at Least 43 Billion Dollars Over 10 Years

Dr. Jennifer Arnold, Star of TLC’s “The Little Couple” & Medical Director at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital

(Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 12, 2017) – Nearly 50 children with medically complex conditions and their families will meet with members of Congress during the Children’s Hospital Association’s Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Day on July 12 and 13. They will discuss the importance of a strong Medicaid program for children especially those who have medical complexity.

Under the U.S. House-passed American Health Care Act of 2017, children’s Medicaid funding would be cut by at least 43 billion dollars over 10 years. Children will lose health care funding, coverage and benefits as a result.

  • Medicaid matters to kids. We must keep Medicaid strong and improve it to better meet the needs of more than 30 million children served by the program, especially children with medical complexity. Children make up nearly half of Medicaid enrollees yet account for just 19 percent of costs – a federal investment that makes sense.  Medicaid’s core benefit supports children’s growth by meeting their developmental needs, thus reducing downstream health problems and costs.
  • Medicaid provides health care coverage for most children with medical complexity. Of the three million children with medical complexity in the United States, approximately two-thirds are covered by Medicaid and they represent nearly 40 percent of Medicaid’s spend on children.  
  • Innovative solutions like the ACE Kids Act of 2017 can improve care for children in Medicaid while reducing costs. Rather than cutting Medicaid for 30 million children, Congress can save $13 billion over 10 years by improving Medicaid for children with the highest-cost conditions.

For more information, visit www.childrenshospitals.org and www.speaknowforkids.org.

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