Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, we have heard from great speakers talking about the problem with chronic disease in the United States.

One of the issues that face people who have hypertension, kidney disease, and diabetes is that they can't get the medicines or the devices that they need to be able to regulate their condition.

This bill, H.R. 919, helps to solve that problem by giving individuals access to those lifesaving devices prior to them fulfilling their deductible. This is critical, as we fight chronic disease in the United States. As we have heard, over 90 percent of the expenditures in this country are due to chronic disease.

I know that in my district in eastern North Carolina, the rate of diabetes, obesity, congestive heart failure, and high blood pressure are things that are really, truly killing our population. Being able to access devices so that we can monitor these things is crucial. We have to have availability for these devices for people before they have to pay their full deductible.

I applaud Representative Buchanan, Representative Panetta, and Chairman Smith for bringing this forward. This is common sense. President Trump tried to do this in his first term. I am very grateful that they are trying to do this again. We want to make America healthy again. That starts with being able to give patients the tools that they need to be healthy. I urge support for H.R. 919 to my colleagues.

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