At present, insurance companies and HMO’s define repair to craniofacial deformities as “cosmetic” rather than “reconstructive”, thereby avoiding coverage of medical costs. Senator John McCain and his wife Cindy traveled to Bangladesh in 1991 to help victims of a cyclone, and returned to the USA with a beautiful 10-week old girl named Bridget, who was born with a cleft palate and cleft lip. Insurance agencies denied medical coverage to the McCains, who spent $40,000 out-of-pocket to cover medical expenses. “It is criminal”, Keach says, “that every child born with a facial anomaly is deprived of the possibility of a normal appearance, normal speech, and a normal life because of insurance company greed. Imagine being the parent of a child born with a cleft palatte and being told that your health insurance will not cover the medical surgery. For most families, this would be an economic catastrophe!”In October of last year, Sen. McCain and Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the Treatment for Child Deformites Act in the Senate. The Bill is currently awaiting action by the Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.
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