Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) is pushing a bill to make it easier for seriously ill children to survive. In the past under Medicaid, when kids were diagnosed with terminal illnesses, they were only eligible for hospice care, but not care that would heal them. It takes years for states to get into the new federal program that provides seriously ill children with care that goes beyond what they're given under hospice, which is merely end-of life-care.
Moran wants to help states streamline the process, and his bill would make it easier for states to enroll in the program.
"What we have seen though is that children have a near miraculous capacity to live to survive, and it conquers anything we really understand about medicine sometimes," says Moran.
Currently only five states are enrolled in the program that provides comprehensive care for kids with terminal illnesses.
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