Rep. Susie Lee Urges Veterans’ Affairs Colleagues to Support Her Newborn Care Improvement Act

Henderson, Nev. - Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) submitted a statement for the record, dated Sept. 9 and confirmed late Sept. 12, to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, urging her colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 2645, the Newborn Care Improvement Act, which Rep. Lee introduced in May. The bipartisan bill would extend coverage of newborn health care for children of Veterans.

The text of Rep. Lee's statement can be found below:

Chairman Takano, Ranking Member Roe, Chairwoman Brownley, and Ranking Member Dunn, Today I speak to the importance of my legislation, the Newborn Care Improvement Act, to the needs of veterans – particularly women.

As you may know, currently, veterans are eligible to receive seven days of newborn care following the birth of their baby, after which they must find and sign up for health insurance for their newborn. Very often, the new mothers receiving medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) face challenges with time, finances, and complicated insurance choices while adapting to the new challenges of parenthood. My bipartisan legislation would double the available time of newborn care to fourteen days, providing additional time for a veteran to find the best health coverage for the needs of their family and baby.

I am proud to have introduced this critical, bipartisan legislation and know that it is one piece of a pivotal movement in improving the care provided to our women veterans at the VA. As I have said before, and want to reaffirm, again, our women veterans deserve the best health care and maternal care available to them and their families. Starting a family can be an overwhelming time for any parent, making it even more important to ensure our veterans have the resources and time they need to get the best maternal care possible.

I ask my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation and help improve the lives of the veterans in my district and across our grateful nation.

BACKGROUND: Ahead of Mother's Day this year, Democratic Reps. Lee and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.-06) joined Republican Reps. Doug Collins (Ga.-09) and Jackie Walorski (Ind.-02) to give veterans—particularly mothers—more peace of mind by introducing the Newborn Care Improvement Act. This bipartisan bill would extend coverage of newborn health care for children of Veterans. Currently, Veterans are only eligible to receive seven days of newborn care, after which they must find and sign up for health insurance for their newborn. This bill would double that available time to 14 days of care, providing additional time for veterans to find the best health coverage, especially during a high-stress period.