I'm a pediatric heart doctor. Medicaid cuts put half of Kentucky kids at risk.

As a pediatric cardiologist, my specialty is treating children's hearts, but as a pediatrician, I also recognize that surrounding each heart is a child. My job is to take care of both.
Part of my job includes having hard conversations with expecting families about their child's abnormal heart, often trying to describe the complex heart diagnosis with a poorly drawn sketch on a sheet of printer paper. Through teary eyes and tissues in a claustrophobic exam room, I watch as plans for baby showers and nursery décor are quickly replaced by talk of heart surgery and hospital stays.
When this diagnosis pulls the rug out from under these families, I hope to offer a soft landing place, a team of specialized pediatric providers to take care of these children as they undergo heart surgery — sometimes, in the first week of life.
The reality, too, is that as families worry about their child's health, many are also often worried about the cost of care. This is a fear no family should face when it comes to getting the care their child needs.
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Many of these children will need access to specialized providers throughout their life to help them grow and thrive. Luckily, Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — here in Kentucky, called KCHIP — serve as the backbone for caring for children with special health care needs, and approximately half of children I care for with heart disease rely on these programs for specialized care.
Yet, right now these programs are at risk for sweeping cuts as Congress negotiates the budget. Any proposed funding cuts to Medicaid and CHIP would place these children at risk, and so many more in our state and across the country.
I wish that these conversations I had with families were a rarity. However, heart disease that children are born with is the most common birth defect, occurring in almost 1% of births. Approximately a quarter of children born with abnormal hearts will need heart surgery or other interventions to survive.
In Kentucky, Medicaid and KCHIP cover nearly half of children overall and more than half of children with special health care needs. These are the children whose hearts are represented by my drawings. I yearn for these children's smiling pictures as they live and grow with battle wounds of surgical scars, but I know that these heart warriors need our help.
As someone who sees the importance of Medicaid and CHIP first-hand, I urge our Kentucky lawmakers to reject cuts to these vital programs. Because of these programs, my patients and so many more Kentucky children grow up healthy in our communities.
Medicaid and CHIP are lifelines for children and families in our state, including the children who belong to these special hearts. We must protect these programs so patients like mine can thrive. Congress must do what's right and protect Medicaid and CHIP.
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Allison K. Black, MD, FAAP is a pediatric cardiologist in Louisville.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Medicaid cuts could leave half of KY children without care | Opinion

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'This is critical in ensuring that individuals maintain continuous protection against bleeding events as we seek to help address the ongoing needs of people living with this complex disease.' The open-label phase 3b FRONTIER5 study consisted of 61 adults and adolescents, aged 12 years and older, with haemophilia A. Mim8 was well-tolerated with no safety concerns. No thromboembolic events, hypersensitivity reactions, or treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) leading to discontinuation were observed, and there was no clinical evidence of neutralising anti-Mim8 antibodies1. The PROs data from FRONTIER5 indicated a strong overall preference for the Mim8 pen-injector, with 97% (n=57/59) of patients reporting a 'very strong' or 'fairly strong' preference in comparison to their previous emicizumab injection system2. Of the participants who completed the Haemophilia Device Handling and Preference Assessment (HDHPA) questionnaire at week 26, 98% (n=58/59) found the Mim8 pen-injector 'very easy' or 'easy' to use, and 95% (n=56/59) found it 'much easier' or 'easier' compared with their previous administration method. All participants (100%) were 'extremely confident' or 'very confident' in using the pen-injector correctly, and most participants (83%; n=49/59) found it 'very easy' to inject the dose2. 'The FRONTIER5 safety and patient-reported outcomes data support Mim8 as a potential future treatment option for people living with haemophilia A and demonstrate our continued commitment to developing innovative treatment options for this community', said Stephanie Seremetis, chief medical officer and CVP for Haemophilia at Novo Nordisk. 'These results give valuable insights into haemophilia A management, highlight the feasibility of directly switching to Mim8 from emicizumab, and reveal a strong patient preference for the Mim8 pen-injector device.' Novo Nordisk expects to submit Mim8 for regulatory review during 2025. Data from the ongoing phase 3 FRONTIER programme will be disclosed at upcoming congresses and in publications in 2025 and 2026. About haemophilia Haemophilia is a rare inherited bleeding disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding4. It is estimated to affect approximately 1,125,000 people worldwide5. There are different types of haemophilia, which are characterised by the type of clotting factor protein that is defective or missing4. Haemophilia A is caused by a missing or defective clotting Factor VIII (FVIII), and haemophilia B is caused by a missing or defective clotting Factor IX4. Inhibitors are an immune system response to the clotting factors in replacement therapy. Currently, it is estimated that up to 30% of people living with severe haemophilia A develop inhibitors6 that can cause replacement therapies to stop working. About Mim8 Mim8 is an investigational FVIIIa mimetic bispecific antibody optimised with the aim to deliver improved potency and sustained efficacy across flexible dosing intervals up to once-monthly prophylaxis for people living with haemophilia A, with or without inhibitors7-10. Administered under the skin, Mim8 bridges Factor IXa and Factor X. This action replaces FVIII function, which helps restore the body's thrombin generation capacity into the normal range, helping blood to clot7,11. The use of Mim8 in people living with haemophilia A is investigational and not approved by regulatory authorities or available anywhere in the world. About the FRONTIER5 trial FRONTIER5 is a single-arm, open-label, 26-week, phase 3b trial evaluating the safety of switching from previous emicizumab prophylaxis treatment directly to Mim8 prophylaxis treatment using the Mim8 pen-injector in adults and adolescents with haemophilia A, with or without inhibitors3. The FRONTIER clinical programme investigates Mim8 as a prophylaxis treatment for people with haemophilia A, with or without inhibitors. This programme includes FRONTIER1, FRONTIER2, FRONTIER3, FRONTIER4 and FRONTIER53,12-15. About Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. Our purpose is to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases built upon our heritage in diabetes. We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines, and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease. Novo Nordisk employs about 77,400 people in 80 countries and markets its products in around 170 countries. For more information, visit , Facebook , Instagram , X , LinkedIn and YouTube . Contacts for further information _______________________ References Oldenberg J, Benson G, Chowdaryet P, et al. FRONTIER5 direct switch study: Safety of initiating Mim8 prophylaxis without washout of emicizumab. Oral presentation presented at the Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2025; June 21-25 2025; Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington D.C., US. Session code 13686. Mahlangu J, Ahuja S, Cockrell E, et al. FRONTIER5 device handling and patient-reported outcomes. Oral presentation presented at the Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2025; June 21–25 2025; Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington D.C., US. Session code 13786. A Research Study Looking at How Safe it is to Switch From Emicizumab to Mim8 in People With Haemophilia A (FRONTIER5). Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. MedlinePlus. Hemophilia. Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. Iorio A, Stonebraker JS, Chambost H, et al. Establishing the Prevalence and Prevalence at Birth of Hemophilia in Males: A Meta-analytic Approach Using National Registries. Ann Intern Med. 2019;171:540–546. doi: 10.7326/M19-1208. Kim JY, You CW. The prevalence and risk factors of inhibitor development of FVIII in previously treated patients with hemophilia A. Blood Res. 2019;54:204-209. doi: 10.5045/br.2019.54.3.204. Ostergaard H, Lund J, Greisen PJ, et al. A factor VIIIa-mimetic bispecific antibody, Mim8, ameliorates bleeding upon severe vascular challenge in hemophilia A mice. Blood. 2021;138:1258-1268. doi: 10.1182/blood.2020010331. Mancuso EM, et al. Efficacy and safety of Mim8 prophylaxis in adults and adolescents with hemophilia A with or without inhibitors: Phase 3, open-label, randomized, controlled FRONTIER2 study. Abstract presented at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) 2024 Congress. Kenet G, et al. Patient- and caregiver-reported outcomes with subcutaneous Mim8 prophylaxis in paediatric patients with haemophilia A with or without factor VIII inhibitors: phase 3 FRONTIER3 study. Abstract presented at the European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders (EAHAD) 2025 Annual Congress. Session 6. Chowdary P, Banchev AM, Kavakli K, et al. Safety and Efficacy of Mim8 Prophylaxis Administered Once Every Two Weeks for Patients with Hemophilia A with or without Inhibitors: Interim Analysis of the FRONTIER4 Open-Label Extension Study. Abstract presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2024 Annual Congress. Session: 322. U.S. National Library of Medicine. F8 gene. MedlinePlus Genetics. Available at Last accessed: June 2025. A Research Study Investigating Mim8 in People With Haemophilia A (FRONTIER1). Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. A Research Study Investigating Mim8 in Adults and Adolescents With Haemophilia A With or Without Inhibitors. Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. A Research Study Looking at Mim8 in Children With Haemophilia A With or Without Inhibitors. Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. A Research Study Looking at Long-term Treatment With Mim8 in People With Haemophilia A (FRONTIER4). Available at: Last accessed: June 2025. Attachment Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash GlobeNewswire provides press release distribution services globally, with substantial operations in North America and Europe.