Cord blood stem cells hold great potential for battling debilitating conditions like spinal cord injuries, leukemia, sickle cell anemia and diabetes. The real life stories of medical breakthroughs made today using cord blood are inspiring and the potential for future uses is promising. Families across the country would benefit from being able to store their child’s own umbilical cord blood for future medical needs. Unfortunately, collecting and storing umbilical cord blood is very costly. A bill has been introduced to help families pay for these costs by allowing the costs associated with cord blood storage to be treated as a qualified medical expense for certain health spending accounts and medical expense tax deductions.

As a strong supporter of expanding cord blood stem cell research and increasing access to this life-saving technology, I look forward to supporting this legislation.