Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World today expressed concern that 22 million people would lose their health care coverage by 2026 under the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA). Included in the number are 15 million who would lose coverage from Medicaid. This would increase hunger and poverty in the United States.
“The Senate’s health care bill is no better than the House version,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “This bill should not be passed because it will increase hunger and poverty. Twenty-two million people, including 15 million of the most vulnerable Americans, would lose their health care coverage.”
The BCRA would cut Medicaid funding $772 billion by 2026, according to an analysis released this afternoon by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It would also end the Medicaid expansion and enact deeper, long-term cuts to the program.
“Both bills are mean-spirited and cruel,” Beckmann said. “If senators truly care about the well-being of their most vulnerable constituents – the elderly, people with disabilities, and children -- they will vote against this legislation.”
Afghanistan would be considered likely to have high rates of hunger because at least two of the major causes of global hunger affect it—armed conflict and fragile governmental institutions.
Malnutrition is responsible for nearly half of all preventable deaths among children under 5. Every year, the world loses hundreds of thousands of young children and babies to hunger-related causes.
Bread for the World is calling on the Biden-Harris administration and Congress to build a better 1,000-Days infrastructure in the United States.
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in faith.” These words from Colossians 2:6 remind us of the faith that is active in love for our neighbors.
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The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is designed to respond to changes in need, making it well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bread for the World and its partners are asking Congress to provide $200 million for global nutrition.
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.