Protecting the health of KC children requires investing in SNAP

As a pediatrician serving a clinic based in the urban core of Kansas City, I help children and their families when they are at their most vulnerable. While treating chronic diseases such as asthma and doing checkups constitute much of my daily activity, I recognize that much more of what affects our children’s overall health happens outside of the office. Among many hidden health challenges present among us, hunger is one of the most frustrating preventable ailments that I see in my community.

Far too many Missourians struggle to put enough food on the table. Nationwide, over 15 million households report being unable to afford enough food for an active, healthy life. Hunger has measurable and dangerous consequences.

Many of my patients would have even bigger health challenges if it were not for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Formerly called food stamps, SNAP provides modest benefits — on average only about $1.35 per person per meal — to make adequate, nutritious food more available. SNAP helps more than 300,000 households in Missouri, and it’s a solution to some of our community’s most pressing health needs.

Despite the program’s effectiveness, the House Agriculture Committee has proposed cutting SNAP benefits by more than $19 billion in the 2018 Farm Bill. Instead of helping families get access to needed nutrition, money would be diverted to a risky new scheme of burdensome work-tracking programs with unforgiving penalties for those unable to prove at least 20 hours of work activities per week. If passed, the House version would harm the children I serve as well as their families.

Many parents served by my clinic would like to work more hours, but their employers do not assign them as many hours of work per week as they desire. People who normally work 30 hours per week should not be punished with less food if their bosses assign them only 15 hours some weeks. The irony is that these parents need nutrition help even more when the hours they can work are reduced.

Some parents at our clinic should qualify for a work exemption because of their physical or mental health, but I worry that they may not be able to successfully jump through hoop after hoop to provide documentation necessary to be declared officially exempt. The chaos of poverty works against successfully cutting through a snarl of red tape.

If some fall through the cracks and lose their SNAP benefits, I am likely to see the health impact. Research shows that people who don’t have access to healthy meals are at least 40 percent likelier to be diagnosed with chronic conditions such as hypertension, hepatitis or stroke.

Hungry children are more likely to develop cognitive and behavioral problems, anxiety, depression and chronic health problems such as asthma and anemia.

There are no positive outcomes associated with hunger. SNAP can be part of the cure.

The House version of the Farm Bill is harsh and partisan, and passed narrowly in June — 213-211. Thankfully the U.S. Senate took a bipartisan approach that kept SNAP strong. Its bill passed 86-11.We are thankful that both Missouri Sens. Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill voted yes.

The Farm Bill conference will meet this week. We must call on our members of Congress to support strong, bipartisan legislation that includes the Senate SNAP provisions — not the harmful and dangerous measures put forward by the House.