You’d think that a First Lady that sticks to supporting veterans and promoting healthy eating and children’s health would be immune to criticism. You’d be wrong. For example, studies show that kids who breastfeed longer have less chance of being obese. There are also studies that show other health benefits from breastfeeding. But if the First Lady tells you about these studies she is creating a nanny-state.
Appearing on “The Laura Ingraham Show” on Tuesday, [Rep. Michele] Bachmann, a Republican, said the first lady’s agenda is “very consistent with where the hard left is coming from.”
“For them, government is the answer to every problem,” Bachmann said. “And so government got us in this problem, and so they think government is going to get us out of the problem. Clearly they’re wrong.”
Bachmann, a mother of five, said she nursed all her children. But, “to think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition,” she said.
Bachmann is referring to this:
A Harvard Medical School study published last spring in the journal Pediatrics estimated that if 90 percent of American women breastfed, 900 premature infant deaths would be prevented and patients and hospitals would see savings of $13 billion in lost wages and saved health care costs – so you might assume that doing so would be a tax write-off.
Until recently, you would have been wrong. As of this fall, the IRS position was that breastfeeding didn’t have enough medical benefits to qualify as tax exempt.
Last week, the Internal Revenue Service finally agreed to allow 2010 taxes to reflect the costs of pumps and milk bags, as all the myriad ways in which to maintain breastfeeding while working or on the road can make “free” suddenly cost quite a bit of cash. That means women with flexible spending accounts can use their pre-tax dollars to pay for nursing supplies. Those who itemize can add them in to their health care costs.
How is that socialism?
