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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 6, 2023 09:59 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Camera Bartolotta |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Coverage for Inpatient Donor Human Milk and Human Milk-derived Products |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation requiring health insurers to cover an exclusive human milk diet for babies under 12 months of age and with documented medical needs that would benefit from use of these products. Pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM) and human milk fortifiers provide crucial nutrition to the sickest infants, such as those born prematurely in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This legislation would build on regulatory efforts that passed in 2020 (Act 7) that have required milk banks in the Commonwealth to register with the Department of Health. Experts agree unanimously that human milk is the best possible nutrition for newborn babies. However, not all mothers can provide milk in sufficient quantities for their babies. PDHM helps provide needed nutrition for these babies, but cost can be an obstacle for families. For babies born very prematurely at a weight of under 1800 grams (around 4 pounds), the need for a diet consisting exclusively of human milk is highest. These babies receive either milk from their mother or PDHM, and their diets are often supplemented with human milk-derived fortifiers to provide necessary calories and nutrients that help them catch up and thrive. This legislation would cover both PDHM and donor milk fortifier to ensure more Pennsylvania families have access to these vital, complementary sources of nutrition. Ensuring babies receive human milk as their sole source of nutrition has many benefits for newborns. Babies on an all-human milk diet have shorter hospital stays, improved feeding tolerance, avoid medical and surgical interventions, and are protected against dangerous and potentially deadly diseases like necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), an infection of the intestine. PDHM and human milk-derived fortifier is a proven method of improving health outcomes, and because they help avoid future complications, are cost neutral or cost-saving when targeted at the neediest populations. In fact, one third-party analysis has projected cost savings of over $20 million from the use of PDHM and fortifiers due to avoidance of expensive complications for the sickest neonates. Please consider co-sponsoring this legislation that will save lives and transform beginning-of-life coverage for Pennsylvania's most vulnerable infants. |
Introduced as SB673