Date: 2009-03-30
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague. the Chair of our Health Subcommittee. for yielding to me.. I rise in support of H.R. 577. the Vision Care for Kids Act. The Vision Care For Kids Act creates a much needed grant program to provide followup vision care for children with vision disorders who do not have access to these services. States have taken steps to identify children for potential vision disorders through mandatory vision screenings. However. most States do not mandate followup eye exams or treatment for children who fail these vision screenings. Of the 36 States that require vision screenings. 26 of them do not require children who failed the screening to receive a followup exam. This lack of vision care jeopardizes a childs development and can. unfortunately. lead to lifelong vision impairment. The Vision Care for Kids Act seeks to remedy this problem by authorizing a new grant program to complement State efforts to provide comprehensive eye exams for children who have been identified. through vision screenings or other eye exams. as having a potential vision disorder. The grant funding authorized under this bill can be used for specific treatments and services to correct the vision disorders identified through the eye exams. Unless caught early and appropriately treated. vision disorders can lead to irreversible damage that can hinder a childs normal growth. development and opportunity to succeed. These children deserve a healthy start to their educational and social development. Yet the reality is that nearly two out of three children entering elementary school have never received preventive vision care. Unfortunately. lack of health insurance presents a barrier to the delivery of appropriate vision care in this country. And for many children who are lucky to have health insurance for medical care. their policy doesnt cover vision coverage. This is precisely why this bill is necessary. By targeting the program towards children who are schoolaged. who do not have vision coverage for the services they require. and are at risk for vision disorders. the bill is designed to spend scarce health care dollars in the wisest manner. A portion of the grant funds may also be used to increase education awareness of vision disorders. so that warning signs can be recognized and any problems can be detected in a timely fashion. This bill hab beeu crafted in a bipartisan manner with my colleague from Oklahoma . our leader on the Republican side. And Id also like to thank Representative ELIOT ENGEL. Representative BILL PASCRELL and Representative RoSLEHTINEN for their continued support of this legislation. Id also like to thank the Congressional Vision Caucus for -their support of the legislation. In 2003 I was joined by our colleagues. Congressman PRICE. Congresswomin RosLEHTINEN and Congressman TIBERI. in establishing the Congressional Vision Caucus. As a founding member of the Caucus. Im particularly pleased to see this bill on the floor today. and consider it a milestone for our young caucus. Today the Vision Caucus is comprised of more than 100 Members of Congress. both Republicans and Democrats. House Members and Senators. While our initial goal was to raise the awareness of vision disorders in Congress. the Caucus has developed and endorsed key pieces of vision legislation. including this bill. the Vision Care for Kids Act before us today. Id also like to thank Chairman WAXMAN. Ranking Member BARTON of the Energy and Commerce Committee. as well as the Chair and ranking member of the Health Subcommittee. Mr. PALLONE and Mr. DEAL. for their support. With that. I encourage my colleagues to join me in passing this important bill to improve vision care for Americas children.