SNAP food benefit cuts threaten to make Georgians less healthy than before
With the looming threat of SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as “food stamps”) being cut off in November, it’s a good opportunity to talk about how the federal government has already made the goal of making “America healthy again” particularly eating healthier — actually harder to achieve.
And one of the best ways to do that is to highlight the part of SNAP that was already cut back in July with the “One Big Beautiful Bill”: SNAP-Ed, or the National Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program.
Contrary to popular belief about SNAP, the federal government does not just leave SNAP users to purchase whatever food they want. There have been countless debates about how heavy the hand of government should be when providing these benefits.
But one part of SNAP threaded that needle masterfully: For over 30 years, the program commonly referred to as “SNAP-Ed,” helped millions of Americans improve their everyday eating habits, food choices and health outcomes. SNAP-Ed programs operated in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the country, providing evidence-based programming to SNAP-benefit users and those who are making their food choices on a fixed budget.
Obesity treatment drugs are not accessible to all Americans
I can attest to this personally: The popular nonprofit Open Hand implemented SNAP-Ed programming for 15 years, working with hundreds of community partners across Georgia — including my own, Lucky Shoals Community Association, where we worked to teach these classes in several of our Title I schools the last few years. (We were set to start this school year again in four schools until the cuts happened.)
These programs included cooking demonstrations and nutrition education classes, grocery store tours, a farm-to-preschool program and a robust produce prescription program aimed at addressing chronic disease.
The program had measurable impact: Every $1 spent on SNAP-Ed programs resulted in nearly $10 in health care expenditures savings. We also saw the increase in food security, improved blood pressure and blood sugar readings and an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption.
Parents felt hope for the first time that they could serve nourishing meals for their children — even on tight budgets.
Adults with diabetes learned that their joy didn’t have to end with diagnosis, and they could feel better every day and avoid complications with simple adjustments to their meals and maintenance of a routine.
We’ve seen a revolution with anti-obesity, diabetes, and other medications. I am very happy that science has created drug mechanisms that allow people, many of whom have struggled mightily to stay healthy, to struggle less.
The reality, though, is that these mechanisms remain out of reach for many, if not most Americans.
(In fact, I had a bill (House Bill 1512) to expand state Medicaid to cover these drugs for weight loss, which has still not been funded or passed. I wrote a different bill, HB 929, this year with my colleague Rep. Karen Lupton, D-Chamblee, to expand nutrition programs in our schools and health centers; I also wrote a bill (HB 642) regarding the use of dyes in school meals).
Letting SNAP lapse will force citizens to eat less healthy
Most Americans still struggle with making healthy choices, all while we are surrounded by, at best, the temptation of junk and taste — and, at worst, the necessity of convenience. Some live in food deserts (like my district, as designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP) and eat fast food or food from convenience stores.
I still struggle with it, despite having access to more resources than many other people. SNAP-Ed helped people learn to make those choices.
And all of this will be made worse — and America made unhealthier still — if we don’t fund the part of SNAP that still exists. Letting SNAP lapse will only force more Americans to turn to the cheapest, unhealthiest foods.
And that will have a domino effect even on those who have more resources but still often struggle to eat healthy: Among other things, our systems will have to absorb even higher health care costs and there will simply be more unhealthy food around us.
Maybe we can, someday, fix our broken health care system; everyone seems to agree it’s broken, but disagree on where the problems are. Insurance, cost of drugs, hospitals, reimbursement, all the things — many of which were also hurt by the federal cuts. But even if and when we have the “perfect” health care system, there will still be no replacement for nutritious food.
The popular adage, one that my mom still repeats to me — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — is true. It means that helping people learn to make healthy choices with what they put in their bodies is the most important thing we can do for health.
And it means helping those who are food insecure get the healthy food they need — if not just because you care about other humans, then because their hunger will impact all of America’s health in the end.
Rep. Marvin Lim, D-Norcross, is a state representative for House District 98 and an attorney. He is also CEO/founder of the nonprofit Lucky Shoals Community Association Inc.
