Michelle's Law

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding to me.

I also rise to ask my colleagues to support the legislation before us today, Michelle's Law, which will prohibit insurers and group health plans from terminating coverage of dependent college students who lose their full-time student status due to a serious illness or injury.

As you may know, some insurance plans allow college students to remain covered as dependents only if they attend a post-secondary institution full-time. As a result, this may force college students throughout the country with serious illnesses or serious injuries, who are dependent upon their parents' insurance, to make the difficult choice of pursuing a college education or taking care of their health.

Mr. Hodes just spoke about Michelle Morse who died tragically of colon cancer in 2005 after going against her doctor's wishes and maintaining her full-time course schedule to maintain her health insurance.

In my home State of Delaware, Michelle Rigney, a University of Delaware student diagnosed with melanoma when she was 19, and cancer advocate who I had the honor of working with several times over the last few years, also recently lost her battle with the disease.

Throughout her battle with cancer, Michelle Rigney advocated for the passage of this bill to make things easier for others in similar situations. Michelle expressed her concerns over insurance to me as well as the importance of easing the stress students with a serious illness face when deciding between an education and their health.

I believe strongly that Michelle's Law will give seriously ill and injured students and their families the time they need to decide what their next steps should be without the fear of losing their health insurance. CBO estimates that the bipartisan H.R. 2851 would have no significant impact on the budget. Additionally, this commonsense legislation has been endorsed by several key health and insurance groups, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the National Education Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, and the American Diabetes Association. A full list of groups that endorse this bill will be submitted for the Record, and indeed, Representative Hodes sent up letters already doing that.

LIST OF GROUPS THAT SUPPORT THE PASSAGE OF MICHELLE'S LAW

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACSCAN); American College Health Association; American Diabetes Association; America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP); American Heart/Stroke Association; American Hospital Association; American Medical Student Association; American Nurses Association; Colorectal Cancer Coalition; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Healthcare Leadership Council; National Association of Graduate Professional Students; National Association of Social Workers; National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); National Education Association (NEA); National Health Council; National Kidney Foundation; National Patient Advocate Foundation.

Finally, I want to thank Representative Hodes for his leadership on this bill in the House, and I thank all of the various committees, Education and Labor, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce Committee Members and their staff members for their hard work on getting this bill to the floor.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2851, Michelle's Law.

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