U.S. will cover baby formula cost for low-income families -agriculture agency

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! Finance

Reuters

U.S. will cover baby formula cost for low-income families -agriculture agency

Leah Douglas
Wed, May 25, 2022, 3:07 PM

By Leah Douglas

May 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture will temporarily cover the cost of baby formula for low-income families dependent on government discounts in states contracted with formula makers Nestle SA and Reckitt Benckiser Group's Mead Johnson, the agency said Wednesday.

A nagging shortage of infant formula has limited access to the vital product nationwide, and families participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program administered by USDA have been particularly constrained.

WIC shoppers can typically only buy formula produced by the company that has a contract with their state, territory, or tribe. Infants on WIC consume about 56% of the nation's formula.

Abbott Laboratories, the biggest participant in the WIC program whose Michigan plant closure due to complaints of bacterial contamination greatly exacerbated the national shortage, has said it will honor its rebates even if shoppers buy competing formulas. ... USDA said it would step in to cover the cost of competing formulas in states with Reckitt or Nestle contracts, if the contracted formula is not available, using authority granted to the agency under the Access to Baby Formula law signed by President Biden on May 21.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-cover-baby-formula-cost-190724733.html

[paleotn]

1. Good, but.....

no Trump voters. That would be "socialism." They need to find their "bootstraps" or hit up the orange menace for a loan.

[JCMach1]

2. How about emergency price controls otherwise we

Are tossing money away

[Withywindle]

3. How about we just distribute it for free to everyone who needs it?

WIC is a fucking joke. The byzantine regulations about what it can and can't be spent on are meant to be dehumanizing and humiliating, and they are.

Good for Biden for signing this, but he shouldn't even have had to.

"WIC shoppers can typically only buy formula produced by the company that has a contract with their state, territory, or tribe. "

In what world is this okay? Not my world.