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Owen's Law / Protect Sick Babies Act
Owen's Law (SB 1202) introduced by Senators Michele Brooks and Art Haywood and the Protect Sick Babies Act (HB 2017), introduced by Representatives Wendi Thomas and Austin Davis, would expand access to Pasteurized Donor Human Milk (PDHM) by expanding insurance coverage and reimbursement for medically necessary donor milk.
Why donor milk?
Human milk is essential for the well being and health of all infants, but it is especially necessary for infants born prematurely or ill. For medically fragile infants, an all human milk diet provides unparalleled protection against severely life-threatening complications that can lead to lengthy hospital stays, multiple procedures, readmissions, life-long disability, or death.
SB 1202 & HB 2017
Owen's Law and the Protect Sick Babies bill would cover medically prescribed PDHM for inpatient and outpatient infants who have serious health conditions such as:
- Very low birth weight
- Gestational age equal to or less than 34 weeks
- A high risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
- Congenital heart disease requiring surgery in the first year of life
- A congenital or acquired gastrointestinal disease
- The need for an organ or bone marrow transplant
- Craniofacial anomalies
- Neonatal abstinence syndrome; or
- Other conditions where the use of donor milk is deemed medically necessary.