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Rep. McDermott Home Visitation Bill Incorporated into Historic Health Care Legislation
July 17, 2009
 The historic health care reform legislation that was voted out of the House Ways and Means Committee early this morning includes Rep. Jim McDermott’s Early Support for Families Act that he introduced along with Rep. Danny Davis earlier this year. The bill is now Section 1904 of H.R. 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.
The provision would provide $1.8 billion over ten years for grants to States, tribes and territories to establish or expand voluntarily home visitation programs for pregnant women and for families with pre-school children. “The evidence is clear and compelling,” Rep. McDermott, also a child psychiatrist, said. “When we support programs that promote the well being, health and development of children, we are investing in our future and we save money in the long run.”
McDermott said research confirms that providing pregnant women and mothers with access to trained professionals improves outcomes in everything from immunization rates to healthier birth weights to fewer emergency room visits for treatment of injury. Estimates also suggest that today only about 15% of the families who could benefit from a home visitation program have access to one.
According to McDermott, the grants would provide up to 85% of the money needed for a home visitation program. And HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services, would be required to monitor programs to ensure they are working effectively.
“We have put into place a way to improve the lives of children across the country and we have put into place a method to ensure the money is being spent wisely and the programs are working,”
McDermott said. “The bottom line is when we invest in proven programs to improve outcomes for children today we improve the lives of these children tomorrow.”
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