CVS Under Fire For Right-Wing Political Donations

Sunday, September 12, 2021

GoLocalProv News Team

 

View Larger +

CVS is coming under greater criticism for political donations to right wing candidates and causes

Woonsocket-based CVS is under fire by groups that claim it is supporting the Texas legislators who pushed to limit abortions in that state and by one of the leading nurses' organizations that say the corporation is funneling millions through a dark money organization to block Medicare reforms.

The pressure by the advocacy groups comes on top of a 2018 report of how CVS was one of the biggest funders to then-President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

While CVS may be in the politically blue northeast, its campaign dollars are often going to conservative and red-state causes.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

CVS is the 4th largest company in the United States by revenue.

 

 

Nurses Blast CVS on National Zoom

On Friday, National Nurses United held a national Zoom to discuss what they say is how CVS funneled $5 million to the dark money group Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.

This is the largest donation in the country to the anti-Medicare-for-All group, according to Riley Brann during the Zoom.

Lee Fang, a reporter for The Intercept, wrote, “The seven-figure donation from CVS is the largest known contribution to PAHCF, which was formed in 2018 to lobby and advocate against proposals such as Medicare for All, the public option, and similar reforms that have gained growing support in recent years. PAHCF is a 501(c)(4) and is not required to disclose donor information.”

“Last year, PAHCF swamped voters in Democratic primary states such as South Carolina with ads urging voters to oppose Medicare for All. In states considering the public option, the group hired local lobbyists and aired advertisements designed to discourage state legislators from voting for the plan. And just before the general election, the group again aired ads attacking the public option,” reported The Intercept.

CVS defends PAHCF. "The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future (PAHCF) is a coalition whose stated mission is to build on and improve what's working, where private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid work together to expand access to coverage and care. CVS Health is not currently funding the PAHCF," said Mike DeAngelis, CVS Health Corporate Communications.

 

View Larger +

The RI-based Womxn Project is blasting the Woonsocket-headquartered organization.

Allegations of CVS Supporting Legislators in Texas Who Passed Anti-Abortion Rights Law

The Rhode Island-based Womxn Project announced this week the launch of a campaign to demand CVS stop giving money to politicians attacking abortion access.

“CVS Health is headquartered here in Rhode Island. They gave more than $70,000 to lawmakers in Texas who pushed Senate Bill 8, a horrific policy that takes away abortion access early in pregnancy and threatens people with a lawsuit if they help someone get care," said the Womxn Project in a statement.

According to The Womxn Project, "CVS has a slogan 'for your own good.’ Well, it doesn’t do anyone any good and is downright dangerous to support bans on abortion. We are not going to be silent as a big company right here in our backyard is doing real harm." 

"We are demanding that they make a public commitment to stop giving money to any lawmaker using their power to undermine access to abortion and put up barriers to reproductive healthcare. You don’t get to talk about working to ‘support the unique health needs of women at every age’ and then contribute to politicians who take away care that one in four women will use during their lifetime," said the organization.

"CVS should not give money to politicians who take away access to healthcare and interfere with decisions around reproductive health. Until they halt this harmful practice, they shouldn’t get our money! We are not going to be silent as a big company right here in our backyard is doing real harm! No more,” added the Project.

DeAngelis said, "...contributions to elected officials are often taken out of context and used to further a narrative that simply does not exist. This is especially true when people point to our political giving going back as much as four years, without clarifying that these are not all recent contributions. Past political contributions are by no means a blanket endorsement of an individual’s position on every issue, nor are they an indication of where we will direct future support."

"We are very transparent about our political giving, publishing an annual political activities and contributions report on our public website," he said.

Editor's note: an early version of this story included an image from https://www.flickr.com/people/pictures-of-money/ - that was under the Creative Common rules - we have removed the image.

 

Related Articles

 

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

 
 

Sign Up for the Daily Eblast

I want to follow on Twitter

I want to Like on Facebook