USLCA Public Policy Committee

A HOT TIME for Breastfeeding Advocacy

August is not only the month containing World Breastfeeding Week but is when Congress is in recess. This means that your federal senators and representatives are working in their home district and are available locally for you to visit. In this era of healthcare reform we need to make sure that our voice is heard regarding breastfeeding and the services of the IBCLC. Now is the time to let your members of Congress know how important it is that breastfeeding and the IBCLC are contained in the various bills that have been or will be drafted.

We also have 2 breastfeeding protection bills, one in the Senate and one in the House, that are in desperate need of more co-sponsors.
Representative Carolyn Maloney's bill needs at least 200 members of the House to co-sponsor it. There are currently only 17. See http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdXcyU:@@@P|/bss/111search.html.
Use this document from the US Breastfeeding Committee as a leave-behind http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/Portals/0/Publications/Health-Care-Reform-One-Page-USBC.pdf
as well as the letter regarding adding the IBCLC to the expanded list of Medicaid providers and the handout on how LCs make a difference.

Why sit by the pool or on the beach sipping cold ice tea and reading trashy beach novels--I mean the Journal of Human Lactation- when you or your USLCA chapter could be talking with your congressional members or their staff about why breastfeeding is a public health issue, why breastfeeding support should be included in healthcare reform legislation, and how the IBCLC will save the healthcare industry billions of dollars. Use the PowerPoint and supporting documents to make that visit, make our voice heard, and move our breastfeeding agenda forward.

Other resources:

Advocacy Toolkit http://www.dcbfc.org/pdfs/AdvocacyToolkit2009.pdf

Legislative Summer Breastfeeding Advocacy PowerPoint

Legislative Summer Breastfeeding Advocacy PDF Handouts

John Kerry letter medicaid IBCLC

LCs Make a Difference