Enrolled SJR 16: Urging the United States Congress to pass the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act; and urging lawmakers to advocate for policies that guarantee equitable access to vital healthcare.
00Enrolled SJR 16 01 Urging the United States Congress to pass the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act; and urging 02 lawmakers to advocate for policies that guarantee equitable access to vital healthcare. 03 _______________ 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act seeks to ensure that individuals born 06 with congenital anomalies, including cleft lip and cleft palate, have access to the medically 07 necessary treatment and care the individuals need throughout the individuals' lives; and 08 WHEREAS the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act aims to require private health insurance 09 plans to cover all medically necessary treatment, including surgery, therapy, and associated 10 care, for congenital anomalies, without imposing a lifetime or annual limit on that coverage; 11 and 12 WHEREAS an individual born with congenital anomalies often faces a lifetime of 13 surgeries, speech therapy, dental care, and other medical needs, making access to 14 comprehensive health care essential for the individual's well-being and quality of life; and 15 WHEREAS many families struggle to afford the high cost of necessary medical 16 treatments, especially if a family's insurance plan limits coverage for congenital anomaly care
01 or does not cover specific procedures, resulting in financial hardship and delayed or 02 inadequate care; and 03 WHEREAS the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act would provide critical protections for 04 families by ensuring that private health insurance plans cover medically necessary treatments 05 and services for congenital anomalies and prevent arbitrary limits on the duration of care; and 06 WHEREAS the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act was brought to the attention of the 07 Anchorage Assembly by Emily Brubaker, who was an eighth grade student at Romig Middle 08 School at the time, when she was honored by the Anchorage Assembly for her significant 09 achievement as winner of the National Civics Bee contest; and 10 WHEREAS Emily Brubaker was born with a rare congenital anomaly called 11 hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, which affects the development of skin, hair, teeth, nails, 12 and sweat glands; and 13 WHEREAS dental work for Emily Brubaker's condition is likely to cost her family 14 more than $100,000; and 15 WHEREAS, at the age of six, Emily Brubaker began taking trips to Washington, 16 D.C., with her family to share her story with members of the United States Congress, 17 encouraging members to pass the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act, which would require private 18 health insurance plans to cover diagnosis and treatment of congenital anomalies and birth 19 defects for which some insurance companies deny coverage as dental care; and 20 WHEREAS the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act was last introduced in the 117th United 21 States Congress as H.R.1916 and S.754 and is currently being rewritten; and 22 WHEREAS, while the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act does not currently have a primary 23 sponsor in the United States House of Representatives, the Act may be introduced in the 24 119th United States Congress by Senators Joni Ernst and Tammy Baldwin; 25 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska Congressional 26 delegation to support the passage of the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act to ensure 27 comprehensive, affordable, and uninterrupted medical care for state residents with congenital 28 anomalies; and be it 29 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges lawmakers to 30 continue advocating for policies that guarantee equitable access to vital health care for all 31 individuals.
01 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 02 of the United States; the Honorable JD Vance, Vice President of the United States and 03 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of 04 Representatives; the Honorable Chuck Grassley, President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate; the 05 Honorable John Thune, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski 06 and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Nicholas Begich, U.S. 07 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 08 119th United States Congress.