Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 142

Decades of studies document the public health benefits of SNAP/food stamps. In 2013,
a health impact assessment of the changes proposed to SNAP in the Senate and House
versions of the farm bill found that both would lead to adverse public health outcomes. The
House version would cause more serious damage since it proposed larger cuts. The assessment, conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts,
concluded that the cuts in the House version could lead to an additional $15 billion in costs
over 10 years for diabetes alone.28
“At a stronger dose,” SNAP could do a much better job of protecting public health.
That was the finding of a 2013 report by the Institute of Medicine and National Research
Council.29 The report called for updating the formula used
to calculate benefits. The f ormula is fundamentally the
“Decades of studies
same as when the program was established in the early
document the public
1960s, while the cost of living for families with children,
health benefits of
including such expenses as child care, housing, health care,
SNAP/food stamps.”
and transportation, has increased. In addition, the real
value of the minimum wage has decreased significantly, so
people must work longer hours to meet their basic needs. This, in turn, translates into
less time available for parents to cook meals from scratch. All of these factors demonstrate how much modern life has changed since the formula for calculating food stamp
benefits was created a half-century ago.
The SNAP/food stamp challenge brought Dr. First to a realization. “While I cannot begin
to experience or understand what families on food stamps experience on an ongoing basis, I
do know how important it is to advocate on their behalf at the federal, state, and local level
to insure that we do all we can to eradicate hunger and food-insecurity.”30 Completing the
SNAP/food stamp challenge should do more than give us a chance to feel what it’s like to
walk in the shoes of someone in poverty. We need to move beyond feeling what it is like to
talking about it and then changing it. And that is why we need a sentinel group in Congress,
such as the Select Committees on Hunger that used to be active in both the House and
Senate, to make sure there is a platform for changes to be introduced and enacted.

BOX 4.4

EYEWITNESS TO HUNGER, AN ACCOUNT BY
PEDIATRICIAN DR. LEWIS FIRST
“I have never been so hungry or food conscious in my life as I was during the week of the [SNAP/food stamp]
challenge.  Instead of looking at people’s faces in the halls or the cafeteria (which I would pass by since I could not
afford to buy food there), I looked at the food people were carrying or eating, thinking what that food might taste like
if I could afford it. By two days in, I had lost two pounds, and found myself constantly thinking how many hours until
I could afford to eat my next meal. It only took a few days until I began to worry whether I would have enough food
to make it through the week and I realized that I too was becoming food insecure.”

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