But then his life changed three years ago, when in the span of six weeks Kelley lost every hair on his body. Kelley, 41, has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks hair follicles, causing hair to fall out. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, introduced legislation so alopecia areata patients receiving Medicaid can be covered for prosthetic hair pieces. The bipartisan bill would require Medicaid, the federal-state health program, to pay for one prosthetic hair piece a year for patients with the most severe forms of the disease. An estimated 200,000 Americans have alopecia areata universalis (loss of all body hair) or alopecia areata totalis (loss of all scalp hair). read more

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