[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 20 (Monday, February 5, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         FIGHTING INSURANCE COMPANIES TO HELP PREMATURE BABIES

  (Mr. McGARVEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, in 2011, our twins, Clara and Wilson, were 
born 14 weeks premature. They weighed a pound and a half and a pound 
and fifteen ounces. We spent 99 days in the NICU before coming home.
  No journey through the NICU is easy. The fear, the ups and downs, and 
the helplessness that comes with having your babies in someone else's 
hands, that is only made worse when you have to fight the insurance 
companies--like my wife, Chris, and I did--to get your preemies the 
nutritional support they need to grow out of the NICU.
  We were lucky. We won our fight with the insurance company, and we 
made a promise that if we could, we would do everything we could to 
help other families, as well. That journey took us to the Kentucky 
State Senate where I passed the first insurance mandate in over two 
decades.
  Now it is time to go national. That is why I have introduced the 
Supporting Premature Infant Nutrition Act, so every family and every 
preemie is given the best chance to thrive.

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