Sen. Ossoff Working to Guarantee Children Have Access to Health Care

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to guarantee children have access to needed health care.

As part of his ongoing push to ensure Georgia families get the health care they need, Sen. Ossoff is urging the Senate to take up legislation that will guarantee health care for every American child, including hearing, vision, and dental care.

"In the State of Georgia, tens of thousands of children lack health insurance and in recent years thousands have been thrown off the Medicaid rolls. Georgia children have missed pediatrician visits because they lack insurance," Sen. Ossoff wrote. "This is a national crisis. No child in America should be denied care. We must ensure every child is covered and has access to care, including hearing, dental, and vision care. This must be an urgent priority for us to address in Congress.

Sen. Ossoff continues working to lower health care costs for Georgia families and take on the insurance companies.

Last month, during the Senate budget debate overnight, Sen. Ossoff offered an amendment to prevent insurance companies from denying or delaying needed care, but Senate Republicans blocked Sen. Ossoff's amendment.

In April, Sen. Ossoff urged the Senate to take up legislation that will help end the abusive denial or delay of medically necessary health care.

Also in April, Sen. Ossoff launched an inquiry with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), about insurance practices that lead to denied claims and delayed health care that patients need.

In March, Sen. Ossoff cosponsored Ally's Act, bipartisan legislation first introduced by Sens. John Curtis (R-UT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), which would help children with hearing loss get the care they need by requiring insurance providers to cover bone-anchored hearing systems and cochlear implants, as well as the surgery, maintenance, and upgrades associated with these devices.

In February, Sen. Ossoff worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the Increasing Transparency in Generic Drug Applications Act to increase transparency in generic drug applications and reduce unnecessary delays so that these low-cost medications are brought to consumers faster.

The same month, the bipartisan Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act, a bill cosponsored by Sen. Ossoff, was signed into law as part of bipartisan government funding legislation to ensure kids covered by Medicaid in Georgia face fewer delays when receiving specialty care.

Also in February, Sen. Ossoff cosponsored the bipartisan Safe Step Act, introduced by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), to help prevent insurance companies from delaying Georgians' access to medical care.

Click here to read the letter.

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