Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor today in support of the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act (H.R. 670). Pallone introduced the bipartisan legislation with Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) to streamline the process for individuals with disabilities to set up Special Needs Trusts to provide support for certain expenses to supplement Medicaid benefits. The legislation also includes a provision to extend tobacco cessation coverage to pregnant women through the first year postpartum.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I strongly support my bipartisan legislation, H.R. 670, the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act.
This legislation, which I have championed for multiple Congresses with my Republican colleague, Representative Glenn Thompson, would allow individuals with disabilities to set up Special Needs Trusts for themselves without a court petition. I thank Representative Thompson for his continued leadership on this issue.
A Special Needs Trust is a special kind of trust that is designed to provide support for certain expenses for disabled individuals to supplement Medicaid benefits. Currently, these types of trusts generally must be established by parents, grandparents, legal guardians or a court on behalf of the disabled individual. People can only set up a Special Needs Trust for themselves after petitioning a court. Oftentimes, this process can take several months and can incur significant legal fees during the process.
This is just not right; individuals with disabilities can and should have the ability to set up a Special Needs Trust for themselves, and this legislation fixes that basic inequity. This is a commonsense, but very meaningful fix in the lives of those living with a disability.
I’d like to also note that H.R 670 was amended in the Energy and Commerce Committee by adding an additional provision to require states to extend tobacco cessation coverage to pregnant women through the first year postpartum. This is also good policy. Tobacco cessation is absolutely critical to both saving dollars and saving lives, and particularly so for pregnant and postpartum women. When we invest in helping people to quit smoking, the benefit is not only clear to the health of our communities, but also to our economy. My own home state of New Jersey is currently piloting a project in our Medicaid program specifically aimed at cutting costs and improving birth outcomes through targeted evidenced-based efforts that help pregnant women to quit smoking.
In addition, these policies are fully offset by clarifying that the federal match for hair growth and cosmetic products is available when those products are medically necessary, which is the current policy of most states already. The remaining savings are put in a “Medicaid Improvement Fund", as a down payment on more positive improvements to the Medicaid program in the future.
I am proud that we were able to work together on these policies. This is an example of the type of work that we should do more often in the Medicaid program- working together to pass policies that remove barriers for beneficiaries, strengthen benefits, and support the long-term health of the program overall.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 670 and I hope that the Senate will consider this new version so that it can swiftly become law. Thank you, I reserve the balance of my time.
