Senior administration officials told lawmakers people who drank Flint’s lead-contaminated water may be able to receive Medicaid coverage to try to mitigate the effects, a congressional source said Friday.
If Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder makes a formal request, Flint residents who qualify would be able to receive monitoring for lead levels in their blood and support for nutritional and behavioral health, the source said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Assistant Secretary Dr. Nicole Lurie and Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy passed that news along to House Democrats during a meeting Friday, per the source.
In April 2014, Flint switched its water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which draws water from Lake Huron, to a local agency that also would take water from the lake.
However, the infrastructure needed to get water from Lake Huron to Flint under the new agency was not yet built, so an emergency manager appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder decided to take water from the Flint River as a temporary measure.
This week, while testifying in front of the House Democratic Policy and Sterring Committee, pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha said there is no safe amount of lead that can be in a person’s blood. She said the children in Flint could end up having behavioral, education, nutrition and health challenges.
“It is the wrap-around services that we need to put into place now for these children,” she said.
