Rob, 76, suffers from heart and liver disease and has an annual income of $8,640. Jean, 83, had ovarian cancer and hip surgery and lives on widow’s benefits of $10,644. What do these two people have in common? They are homebound but able to eat nutritiously because they receive home delivered meals from Meals on Wheels and use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly called food stamps) benefits to help pay for them.
Meals on Wheels offers a sliding fee scale that takes into account income and expenses so that no one has to choose between eating and other basic necessities. SNAP benefits help these seniors and adults with disabilities to stretch their limited incomes. Last fiscal year, 7% of both Meals on Wheels of Lehigh and Meals on Wheels of Northampton Counties clients used SNAP benefits to pay for their home-delivered meals. Other clients also receive SNAP benefits, but use them to pay for other food that Meals on Wheels does not provide such as breakfast food and weekend lunches.
In the United States, nearly 1 in 6 seniors are threatened by hunger. SNAP plays an important role in alleviating this problem. According to the Economic Policy Institute, nearly half of all older Americans are financially insecure either in poverty or just one financial shock away.
SNAP provides an average benefit of $4 a day which helps vulnerable seniors to eat nutritiously, but only 1/3 of the seniors eligible for SNAP apply for the program. We encourage our low-income our low-income clients to apply because we know, firsthand, what a difference it can make.
Government funding for SNAP and Meals on Wheels is money well spent because it results in better health outcomes. A healthy diet can prevent weakness and frailty, improve resistance to illness and disease, and lead to better management of chronic health problems. This is especially true for older adults.
A 2009 report entitled, "The Causes, Consequences, and Future of Senior Hunger in America,” states “hunger and a lack of a lack of proper nutrients significantly increase the risk that seniors will suffer from poor or fair health that not only diminishes their quality of life, but also increases the burden on our long-term care and health insurance systems.” Furthermore, the Director of Geriatrics for the NY Presbyterian Health Systems recently stated: “Proper nutrition is the bedrock of all health, and nowhere are the medical consequences of malnutrition more devastating than in our older population.” Finally, the chief executive officer of ProMedica, one of the largest non-profit, community-based health care systems in Ohio, stated: “among the elderly, malnutrition aggravates diseases and increases disability. It (hunger) decreases resistance to infection and extends hospital stays, helping to increase health-care costs because of higher complications.”
As of November 1, our clients and seniors across the country saw about a 5% cut in SNAP benefits. On top of that, Congress is proposing further cuts to the program in the Farm Bill. We do not know the full impact of these cuts, but we fear they may be devastating. What we do know is that our clients are stretching their dollars as far as they can. We also know that they have to make choices about paying for food or paying for medicine or other basic necessities.
We believe that SNAP is an important program that helps our clients to maintain their health while continuing to live independently in their own homes. Our clients paid taxes all their lives, and contributed to our communities. When you think of whether government funding for SNAP benefits is worth it, please think of our homebound neighbors like 76-year-old Rob, 83-year-old Jean and hundreds of others like them living in our community who need this program to eat nutritiously.