Rising Food Prices Take a Bite Out of Food Stamp Benefits

The Food Stamp Program is designed to provide low-income families with increased food purchasing power to obtain a nutritionally adequate diet. As in most other Federal Government assistance programs, benefits are adjusted in response to rising prices—in this case, rising food prices. The current method of adjustment results in a shortfall between the maximum food stamp benefit and the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet as specified by USDA’s Thrifty Food Plan. During fiscal year (FY) 2007, the food purchasing shortfall in the caseload-weighted maximum benefit for the program grew from $7 in October 2006 to$19 in September 2007. In FY 2008, the amount grew from almost $8 in October 2007 to$34 in July 2008 and to $38 in September 2008. In an average month, food stamp households faced shortfalls of over$2 in FY 2003, $12 in FY 2007, and$22 in FY 2008. These losses in food purchasing power account for 1 percent, 4 percent, and 7 percent of the maximum benefit in each respective year. Alternative adjustment methods can reduce the shortfall but will raise program costs.Rising food prices, food price inflation, food stamp benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Food Stamp Program, food purchasing power, cost of the Thrifty Food Plan., Consumer/Household Economics, Financial Economics,

Household Food Security in the United States, 2004

Eighty-eight percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2004, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity rose from 11.2 percent of households in 2003 to 11.9 percent in 2004, and the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger rose from 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent. This report, based on data from the December 2004 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs. Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the United States spent 31 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey. About 20 percent of food-insecure households3.5 percent of all U.S. households obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year.Food security, food insecurity, hunger, food spending, food pantry, soup kitchen, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Food Security and Poverty,

Food Stamp Benefits Adjust to Earnings with and without Cross-Program Effects from TANF and SSI Cash Assistance

As households participating in the Food Stamp Program and other public assistance programs work more, the additional earnings are partially offset by a reduction in food stamp benefits and cash assistance from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The rate at which food stamp benefits and TANF or SSI cash assistance are reduced with an increase in earnings is referred to as the programs effective benefit reduction rate (EBRR). This report derives FSP EBRRs for earnings with and without cross-program effects from adjustments to TANF or SSI cash assistance due to the additional earnings. The estimated FSP EBRRs are combined with TANF EBRRs and SSI EBRRs to estimate an effective tax rate on earnings in terms of these program benefits. With the authority for TANF programs devolved to States in 1996 Welfare Reform Law, FSP and TANF EBRRs as well as effective tax rates on earnings will vary by State. This report illustrates the treatment of earnings among these programs and the variation in treatment across states.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The Course of Medical Opinion on State Health Insurance in British Columbia, 1919-1939

It is widely assumed that North American doctors have generally opposed introduction of compulsory state health insurance; studies of Canadian doctors suggest that they came to support such programs in the 1930s because of income loss during the Great Depression. This paper studies the attitudes of British Columbia doctors on the question in the 1920s and 1930s and concludes that they came to support introduction of state health insurance in the relatively prosperous 1920s in order to loosen the rein imposed on their rising financial expectations by the unpaid work they customarily performed for needy patients. On croit généralement que dans l’ensemble, les médecins nord-américains se sont opposés à l’étatisation de l’assurance-maladie. Des études sur le corps médical canadien laissent néanmoins entendre que les médecins de ce pays en sont venus à donner leur appui à de tels programmes au cours des années 1930, par suite d’une baisse de revenus engendrée par la Crise. Dans l’article qui suit, l’auteur étudie l’évolution de l’attitude des médecins de la Colombie-Britannique sur cette question et montre que c’est dès les années vingt, pourtant relativement prospères, que les médecins de cette province ont commencé à être en faveur de la prise en charge par l’État de l’assurance-maladie. L’objectif qu’ils visaient ainsi était de réduire le fardeau que représentait pour eux les soins gratuits à une clientèle nécessiteuse, eu égard à la croissance de leurs aspirations financières

HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES, 2003

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2003, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity, 11.2 percent of households, was not statistically different from the 11.1 percent observed in 2002. The prevalence of food insecurity with hunger was unchanged at 3.5 percent. This report, based on data from the December 2003 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs. Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the U.S. spent 34 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over one-half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey.Food security, food insecurity, hunger, food pantry, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Food Security and Poverty,

HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES, 2001

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year 2001. The rest were food insecure at least some time during the year, meaning they did not always have access to enough food for active, healthy lives for all household members because they lacked sufficient money or other resources for food. The prevalence of food insecurity rose from 10.1 percent in 1999 to 10.7 percent in 2001, and the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger rose from 3.0 percent to 3.3 percent during the same period. This report, based on data from the December 2001 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs. Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the United States spent 32 percent more than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. About one-half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey. About 19 percent of food-insecure households 2.8 percent of all U.S. households obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year.Food security, food insecurity, hunger, food spending, food pantry, soup kitchen, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Food Security and Poverty,

HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES, 2002

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year 2002, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity rose from 10.7 percent in 2001 to 11.1 percent in 2002, and the prevalence of food insecurity with hunger rose from 3.3 percent to 3.5 percent. This report, based on data from the December 2002 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs. Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the U.S. spent 35 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over one-half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey. About 19 percent of food-insecure households3.0 percent of all U.S. householdsobtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year.Food security, food insecurity, hunger, food spending, food pantry, soup kitchen, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Food Security and Poverty,

Household Food Security in the United States, 2005

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2005, meaning that they had access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households were food insecure at least some time during that year. The prevalence of food insecurity declined from 11.9 percent of households in 2004 to 11.0 percent in 2005, while the prevalence of very low food security remained unchanged at 3.9 percent. This report, based on data from the December 2005 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs. Survey responses indicate that the typical food-secure household in the U.S. spent 34 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over one-half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food assistance programs during the month prior to the survey. About 22 percent of food-insecure households— 3.5 percent of all U.S. households—obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year.Food security, food insecurity, food spending, food pantry, hunger, soup kitchen, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Food Security and Poverty,

Household Food Security in the United States, 2006

Eighty-nine percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2006, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (10.9 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year. About one-third of food insecure households (4.0 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more adults was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were essentially unchanged from those in 2005. The typical food-secure household spent 31 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest Federal food and nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to USDA’s annual Food Security Survey.Food security, food insecurity, food spending, food pantry, soup kitchen, emergency kitchen, material well-being, Food Stamp Program, National School Lunch Program, WIC, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty,