Rep. Lucy McBath Demands Better Access to Life-Saving Medications

Underfunding of EBSA and Its Impact

• 🏥 The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) is responsible for protecting the health benefits of over 150 million Americans but is chronically underfunded and understaffed.
• ⏳ This lack of resources leads to delays in investigations and employees waiting for their health benefits, allowing bad actors to take advantage of patients.
• 📉 Years of underfunding and budget cuts, including proposed additional cuts and career federal employees being pushed out, threaten the agency's mission.

Alternative Funding Programs and Medication Access

• ⚠️ Alternative funding programs, presented as cost-saving measures, are pushing health plans to exclude certain medications.
• 💔 These programs can lead to patients being abandoned by their insurance and forced to rely on overloaded assistance programs.
• 💸 Ultimately, patients may unexpectedly have to bear the full cost of life-saving medications or face harmful delays in treatment.

Personal Impact and Call to Action

• 🎗️ Rep. McBath, a two-time breast cancer survivor, emphasizes that not everyone can wait for life-saving treatment.
• 🆘 Cases submitted to EBSA highlight individuals at their wit's end, needing help to fight insurance denials or seeking oversight for programs that have cut off care.
• ✅ It is our duty to support oversight, cut through red tape, and protect patients' lives by supporting the EBSA.

Investment in EBSA and Its Benefits

• 📈 Strong investments in EBSA mean investing in Americans struggling with insurance red tape and those who have saved for retirement.
• 📉 Budget cuts severely impact the agency's ability to achieve its mission, affecting programs like the benefit advisor program and lengthening investigations.
• 🧑‍💼 Resource constraints mean fewer investigations and less help available for those in need, directly impacting the government's ability to assist its citizens.

Workforce Decline at EBSA

• 📉 Chronic underfunding is a long-term problem where increasing costs, like inflation-adjusted salaries, must be absorbed by reducing headcount.
• 🚶 Approximately 70-75% of EBSA's budget is personnel costs, making it difficult to absorb rising expenses without reducing staff.
• 🚨 Since January, there has been a concerted effort to push federal employees out, leading to an unprecedented attrition rate at EBSA.