Additional benefits during the pandemic have helped SNAP recipients reduce hunger and buy more expensive healthy foods.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Additional benefits during the pandemic have helped SNAP recipients reduce hunger and buy more expensive healthy foods.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Millions of Americans will have less to spend on groceries as the emergency food aid that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic has come to an end.
On average, individuals will receive about $90 less this month in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Some households will see a reduction of $250 per month or more, according to a analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Prioritiesa non-partisan research institute.
“This is a change that will increase hardship for many individuals and families, especially given the modest amount of regular SNAP benefits, which only average about $6 per person per day. “, declares Dottie Rosenbaumdirector of federal SNAP policy for the institute.
More than 40 million people in the United States are helped by SNAP every month. Some states had already phased out pandemic aid, and the remaining 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the US Virgin Islands issued their last emergency benefits in February.
The reduction in SNAP benefits comes as food prices continue to rise. Carlis Phares, who is 64 and lives in Columbus, Ohio, calls it a double whammy.
“It’s going to be a lot harder,” Phares said.
Social Security is his main source of income, and while those payments include a cost-of-living adjustment, he hasn’t kept up with rising rent and other expenses, Phares says. The pandemic increase in SNAP benefits has helped her eat well and save her Social Security money for other things. Now she will have to do more with less.
“I’ll figure out how to get him to stretch,” Phares says. One money-saving strategy is to cut back on meat and fresh produce and stock up on cheaper foods, such as crackers, bread and rice, she says. But Phares knows it’s not good for her.
“The cheapest products are the least healthy products,” says Phares. “I learned that, because I gained a lot of weight eating cheaper things – starches, crackers. And now that I’ve gotten to a better weight, I’m going to have to figure it out,” he said. she declared. said.
Rosenbaum says the annual cost-of-living increase built into SNAP will help “soften” the blow from the cut in emergency benefits. What’s more reassessment of benefits in 2021 to make nutritious food more affordable has resulted in increased payments, which also partly offsets the reductions.
Yet in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, nearly 9.5 million elderly people, aged 50 and over, were considered “food insecurity“, which means that they sometimes struggled to afford all the food they needed, according to an analysis by AARP. In addition, an estimated 9 million children live in homes in crisis. food insecurity, according to No Kid Hungry, a non-profit group that fights hunger. Overall, approximately 10% of US households have experienced food insecurity at some point in 2021.
“SNAP remains our most powerful tool in the fight against hunger,” says Rosenbaum. “It appears to be linked to improved health, education and economic outcomes and reduced medical costs,” she says.
This year, as Capitol Hill lawmakers reauthorize the farm bill, which includes a review of the SNAP program, supporters say there is an opportunity to strengthen the program, especially at a time when agriculture-related diseases diet such as obesity and diabetes are on the rise.
A recent CDC report found 1 in 2 young children in the United States do not eat a vegetable a day, but most consume a lot of sugary drinks. And about 1 in 5 children in the United States suffer from obesity.
The Bipartisan Policy Center Food and Nutrition Security Task Force recommends strengthen food and nutrition security through the Farm Bill, including expanding the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program which gives SNAP recipients more money to buy fruits and vegetables.
This is similar to Double your food dollars U.S. Department of Agriculture program that doubles the value of SNAP benefits when used to purchase produce at farmers’ markets and other locations. Another idea is to strengthen standards for retailers to encourage a wider variety of nutritious foods in stores.
The agricultural bill, which is usually reauthorized every five years, is due to expire at the end of September. It’s a massive bill that governs everything from farm subsidies to nutrition programs, including SNAP.
“[We’re] views the Farm Bill as anti-hunger legislation,” says Eric MitchellExecutive Director of the Alliance to End Hunger.
Mitchell says there’s a lot of momentum — from a wide variety of groups, from policymakers to health care organizations — to scale up programs that can be beneficial. Mitchell cites some examples: “Being able to use SNAP benefits at your local farmers markets, as well as creating food pharmacies where you can use your SNAP benefits to purchase healthy foods to improve your health outcomes. .”
In the meantime, there are still many people in need. THE Middle Ohio Food CollectiveOhio’s largest food bank, saw an increase in the need for its services even before emergency benefits ran out.
Carlis Phares says that with a reduced benefit, she will have to rely on some food bank basics. “I think there’s going to be a lot of people going to food banks,” she says.