ICYMI: Senator Carper Joins Nemours Children’s Health Podcast to Discuss the Bicameral, Bipartisan KIDS Health Act

“The bill ideally helps us to address the barriers that exist to support kids and also to support their families,” said Senator Carper.

In Case You Missed It, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) joined Well Beyond Medicine, the Nemours Children’s Health podcast, to discuss the Kickstarting Innovative Demonstrations Support (KIDS) Health Act. Speaking with podcast host Carol Vassar, Senator Carper shared how this bicameral, bipartisan bill would establish a holistic approach to health care by integrating mental and physical health services for children and youth eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

During the conversation, Senator Carper emphasized how the KIDS Health Act would eliminate barriers to care:

“[The KIDS Health Act] ideally helps us to address the barriers that exist to support kids, and also to support their families. For example, some families, they don’t have a car, they don’t have a driver’s license, and they don’t have the ability to get to a doctor, a nurse, or a healthcare center in their county or their community. They maybe don’t have enough to get food on the table, and maybe their kid is having to deal with bullying at school, and they need mental health services. Through Medicaid and through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, we can actually fund programs to remove these barriers and also help kids get the mental health care they deserve and the physical health care that they deserve.”

Senator Carper also spoke about his longstanding work to address the root causes of America’s health care challenges:

“I’ve been a root cause guy for as long as I can remember. I focus not on the symptoms of problem, but on the root causes of problems, and we need to do that more. We do that in Delaware. We put a school nurse in every public school in Delaware and put a wellness center in every high school in Delaware. We now have wellness centers in our middle schools, and we’re starting to put some in our elementary schools for kids who need help, including [students] with mental health challenges.”

The full podcast with Well Beyond Medicine podcast can be found here.

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