Nutritional Assistance Programs

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers food assistance programs that help provide food for low to no income families. It is their goal to increase food security and reduce hunger by increasing access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education for low-income Americans (Caswell, 2013, para. 1). Some of the current nutrition assistance programs include “the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)”(Caswell, 2013, para. 1). SNAP will be the primary nutrition assistance program of the paper at hand. No matter how morally good it is to try to help reduce hunger and increase food security within the United States, there are still many questions regarding issues with SNAP. This paper will be discussing why there is such a strong support for the program, how it helps the United States as a whole, problems with the program, and why some people are against SNAP.

If a significant portion of the people on public assistance cannot afford to eat healthfully and furthermore do not have the ability or the nutritional education necessary to live a healthy lifestyle this has immediate effects on the growing epidemics of obesity, heart disease and other lifestyle related illnesses and on the health system that is already at capacity.

This past summer, I acquired an internship at Baldwin and Lyons, an insurance company in Indianapolis. Every Wednesday during my internship, a couple of employees and I would participate in a prodigious community service project, Meals on Wheels. Throughout the three months that I worked at Baldwin and Lyons, I got acquainted with some of the individuals whom we delivered to. These inspiring individuals were so grateful and appreciative that we took time out of our day to volunteer to do such a service. One elderly woman who we delivered to would sing to us as she came to the front door “good meals, good meals, good meals.” She is one woman that I will never forget. First going into this, I was elated knowing I was I getting out of the

In the United State, there is a federal nutrition program for low income people to help food budget and buy healthy food. People who have low income in the United States get the food stamps, also known as “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)”. For every month, eligible people who have low income get benefits deposited in to their EBT account. Once they get food stamp, people can purchase food items including seeds and plants to grow food in their house or backyard. It can be used at a grocery store, a supermarket, a farmer 's market, and a shelter that serves meals. However, with all these great benefits, people still eat unhealthy because of too much time consuming, limited money, some food dessert area, and the benefits allow people to eat junk food.

Less than one percent of America has what is considered a "very low food security," yet eighteen percent of America is on food stamps (Hoar). There are many people in the surrounding area of Leedey, Oklahoma that are on food stamps. Most of them do not have any plans to make a change in their lives, and none of them seem to be struggling in regards to food. Many will say that it is not the government's job to control what people eat. The average person in America eats or drinks something that can be considered "junk food" every day. Why should the people on food stamps be limited on food when they are already limited to other expenditures? Seeing that it is everyone's right to eat what he or she wants, he or she should be able to buy junk food if it is he or she's own money. Food stamps are primarily run on government money. At least those who are not on food stamps who buy junk food can say that it is he or she's own money. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), food stamps, was created to get rid of hunger in the United States (Hoar). According to Robert Paarlberg of Harvard University obesity is the problem in most low-income households, not hunger (2). Jen Fifield, the founder of a food pantry in Quitman County, claims that "many public health and medical officials. . . [are] saying that the program. . . [is] feeding into the country's unhealthy habits and worsening the obesity epidemic. (1)" This is supported by many statistics. Arkansas state Representative Mary Bently states that one in three adults in Arkansas are obese, and she is afraid that food stamps are "enabling" diabetes and obesity to rise (1). If junk food is continued to be accessed by those on food stamps, then it will be more than adults being affected by obesity. The children of America will eventually be affected by the leniency of food

The current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program lacks efficient criteria and proper monitoring of the program, which has led to individuals taking advantage of the system. The current program as it stands needs to be reformed. Individuals are gaining eligibility into the program that are not using the program as intended, but are using it as a crutch. Recipients have been able to purchase items, using the program, which are not essential for survival and can be viewed as a luxury. Also, recipients of food stamps have been able to create an illegal trade where the individuals have been able to use food stamps as a cash currency. Your department needs to address the importance of having stricter criteria, for

With $30 you can buy the following: 2 pies of Frozen Freschetta 12” Pizza, 1 box of Kellogg’s cereal of your choice, 3 boxes of Barilla Pasta, 2 jars of Barilla Pasta Sauce, 1 pound of turkey breast cold cuts, 1 package of salad blend, 1 and a ½ crown of broccoli, 5 tomatoes on the vine and 8 slices of store-made angel food cake (“ShopRite of Poughkeepsie Weekly Ad Week of April 20 through April 26”). Can you survive on that for a week? The average single able bodied, unemployed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient in New York receives around $30 a week to purchase food (“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program”). The food stamp program was made national by the Food Stamp Act of 1964 by President Lyndon. B. Johnson (“Food Stamps in the U.S”). Today, over 47.6 million Americans rely on the government to buy groceries (“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program”). The food stamp program is a staple part of our society. However, there was a time when the program was so unpopular that it shut down for almost two decades. In the recent years, food stamp benefits have been on a trend of expanding not only the amount of recipients, but also the amount each recipient receives in benefits. Why has the food stamp program become so popular and supported over the years? And what is the fate of SNAP? The analysis of trends of the policy changes and public moods shows that the size of the food stamp program has changed with the shift in America’s attitude towards

The United States does not spend too much on the food stamp (SNAP program) and no one deserves to go hungry. Every year during budget talks the welfare program comes up as the government explores ways to cut the budget. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary spending due to things like abuse of the system and program administration. There are many areas in which reforms could be instituted and the program could be expanded without misappropriation of funds.

The three activities I hope to continue while attending medical school; teaching, volunteering, and exercising.

According to the article Millions Commit Food Stamp Fraud Every Year, “Food stamps represent one of the fastest growing federal programs in the U.S., 46 million Americans now receive assistance, but, it's a program ripe for abuse” (Volk, 2012). Though the idea behind food stamps is noble, and there is a definite need for the program; there are many problems that arise from the food stamps program. The primary problem in terms of decision-making is the fraud associated with the food stamp program. According to Tanner as quoted in the Millions Commit Food Stamp Fraud Every Year article, “The food stamp program has always had one of the highest rates of waste, fraud and abuse” (Volk, 2012).

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of the largest federal expenditures in North Carolina. The North Carolina General Assembly has charged the State Auditor with including but not limited to independently examining: operating and administrative procedures and practices; whether programs and activities are expending funds in a faithful, efficient, and economical manner in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; whether activities or programs are effectively serving their intent and purpose (Chapter 147 Article 5A). Therefore, the North Carolina State Auditor is requesting SNAP data in order to perform data analytics to identify unusual activity.

The Supplementation Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), prior to October 2008 referred to as Food Stamps, was legislatively established nationwide in 1974 by the United States Congress. However, the Food Stamp Act of 1977 established comprehensive reform of the federally supported entitlement program setting the structure of the program today (Food Stamp Act of 1977). SNAP provides in-kind monthly benefits to provide nutrition assistance to low income families and individuals. With over 22 million households in the United States being served by the program in 2014, SNAP continues to be the nation’s largest domestic nutritional assistance program (Hoynes & Schanzenbach, 2015). As a federally supported entitlement program, federal

The SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants, Children) programs both have similar jobs. Both programs attempt to help feed struggling families. In the past SNAP allowed members to purchase food staples and prepackaged food, but a recent bill is being made in order to address these rules. These changes will deactivate members’ abilities to purchase prepackaged food, and has limited them to purchase only food staples. These food staples included foods such as rice, bread, fruits, etc. While the desired new rules for SNAP are similar to the current rules of WIC, the bill will also attempt to allow members of WIC to purchase white potatoes in addition to their food staples. Multiple commodities’ economic standing will experience larger impacts on supply and demand from this proposed bill’s changes and implications.

We the United States Department of Agriculture have seen that the so called Food Stamps program, also known as SNAP is being abused by irresponsible adults that use the money provided by the government to buy junk food. Not only are the people of the United States buying none-nutritional food, but they are being misinformed on how to use this government help properly. We as the leaders of the United States must put a stop to this growing problem that is filling the American homes of this nation.

As expressed by Wellman et al. (2002), “older adults will double to some 70 million in 2030, reflecting an increase from 12.4% today to 20% of the US population in 2030.” As a result of this data an increase in societal level food interventions are important to implement to meet the nutritional needs of the elderly. Food assistance programs can be a solution to address this problem. The importance of elders of having the appropriate foods for health and the struggles they have in acquiring these foods suggests that elderly food assistance programs might develop better ways of helping them obtained such foods (Wolfe et al., 2003). Food assistance program that exist currently is the Food Stamp Program. This program provides benefits that can be used to purchase specific foods. The eligibility for benefits is determined on the basis of household income and assets. All age groups can receive benefits, but special rules for households with elderly members have been established (Guthrie & Lin, 2002).