Bush Administration Says It Does Not Plan To Loosen Lead Testing Requirements for Children in Medicaid
CMS Administrator Tom Scully on May 14 said the Bush administration has no plans to ease a federal regulation that requires state Medicaid programs to test children for elevated levels of lead, despite an earlier assertion by an administration member, the Washington Post reports (Connolly, Washington Post, 5/15). Federal law currently requires states to test all children enrolled in Medicaid at ages 12 months and 24 months (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/17). In March, Dr. Gerald Zelinger, who works in CMS' family and children's health division, told the federal Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention that the current rule was "way out of balance" with the administration's policy to allow "state flexibility where at all possible." Zelinger told the committee that the administration was considering allowing states to develop their own screening plans (Washington Post, 5/15). The administration also considered allowing states to end testing in areas where children do not face a risk of elevated lead levels. The examination of the current policy came after some states, including Alaska and Utah, said that they should not have to test all children because they have relatively low lead concentrations (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/17). In response to the possible policy change, a group of Democratic lawmakers last month sent letters "expressing alarm over the proposed change" to the advisory committee and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. Thompson on May 14 sent a letter "assuring lawmakers he would rely" on the advisory committee and the CDC "for policy recommendations on lead screening" (Washington Post, 5/15).
Committee Response
Anne Guthrie, a member of the committee and health policy director at the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, described Zelinger's comments in March as a "bombshell." She said, "Everybody at that meeting left with the impression" that the administration planned to revise the lead testing policy. Scully, however, said that Zelinger was "way off the reservation" in his presentation to the committee. "We have no intention of changing the policy on lead poisoning," he said. Michael Weitzman, a committee member and a pediatrician at the University of Rochester, said, "The prudent public policy, as well as the humane policy, is to screen and identify children who are at risk," adding, "This is one where it doesn't take rocket science to help kids" (Washington Post, 5/15).
