No parent should ever have to worry about bureaucratic delays preventing their sick child from receiving the health care they need. Right now, children with cancer or rare diseases who receive care through Medicaid must wait for preauthorization to receive specialty care in another state. When a child has a serious health condition, time is of the essence. Any bureaucratic procedure that delays the child from obtaining the care they need is unacceptable.
Many times, these out-of-state providers already have agreements in place to provide care for Medicaid recipients from their home state. Under current law, providers need to get authorization every time they would like to administer care for a patient from another state who is on Medicaid – creating unnecessary paperwork for a provider that would otherwise be ready to treat the child.
To address this issue, I championed the Accelerating Kid’s Access to Care Act, which passed the House this week. This bill will help ensure children with complex and rare diseases are able to access care as quickly as possible if they must cross state lines to receive specialty care.
The job is not done. As your representative, I will keep working to expand access to affordable health care for Iowans, including by supporting legislation like the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act and my Protecting Rural Telehealth Access Act.