DENVER — Last week, nearly 200 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against a bill that would have provided much-needed funding to ease the shortage of baby formula in the U.S. These elected officials’ refusal to support this lifesaving bill is indicative of their broader stance when it comes to American families and our health care.
Voices of Health Care Action Founder Laura Packard issued the following statement:
“The votes of the 192 Republicans, including GOP House leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Elise Stefanik, against a bill that addresses the baby formula shortage is despicable. Babies are dying because of this shortage, yet the very same politicians who claim to be ‘pro-life’ are the ones refusing to save lives.”
“While their votes are disappointing, they aren’t at all surprising. This formula shortage is a health care issue, and the GOP have voted against Americans’ health care for years, threatening millions of people’s lives, including my own. The day after I was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer, Republicans in Congress voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act–the very insurance paying for the treatments to keep me alive. Now, they are taking these efforts to a whole new level by even rejecting lifesaving care for babies.”
“Every American, regardless of age or background, deserves access to health care and resources, like food, that allow them to be healthy and thrive. Certain politicians prefer to put their own interests over the health of their constituents, and those politicians should not be in office. As we’ve already seen in some primaries, health care is an important issue for voters. With more elections ahead this year, we must keep these Republican representatives’ votes in mind and hold them accountable for their actions. This year, we must vote for health care champions who put people–and their health–first.”
Laura Packard is the founder of Voices of Health Care Action, Executive Director of Health Care Voter, and a stage-4 cancer survivor. The Affordable Care Act saved her life. She is a co-host of Care Talk, a call-in health care show on act.tv and podcast to answer America’s health insurance questions about the ACA, Medicare and Medicaid (airing Mondays at 4:30pm ET). If you’d like to connect with Laura about the baby formula shortage or health care policy more generally, please reach out to Abby Shepard at abigail.shepard@firesidecampaigns.com.
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