healthy food - FOOD AND A PLACE TO SLEEP COULD LEAD TO BETTER HEALTH - SIBEJO

Patients� social and economic circumstances powerfully influence their health and well-being. But until recently there�s been relatively little effort to systematically address these factors. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a government organization established by the Affordable Care Act to test new ways to deliver and pay for health care, is trying to change that. It recently announced a pilot program to help health systems close gaps between medical care and social services in their communities. The program, known as Accountable Health Communities, will invest $157 million over five years to study whether helping patients with social needs in five key areas � housing, food, utilities, transportation, and interpersonal safety � can improve health and reduce medical costs.There�s good evidence that social support can improve health and cut costs. Research suggests nutrition assistance for low-income women and children reduces the risk of low birth weight, infant mortality, and developmental problems � at a cost that�s more than fully offset by lower Medicaid spending. Other work suggests providing elderly patients with home-delivered meals can help them live independently and prevent expensive nursing home stays. The program will award grants to 44 organizations around the country to build partnerships among state Medicaid agencies, health systems, and community service providers to identify which strategies are most effective for linking patients to the services they need.

Source: New York Times, 7/20/16, Food for Health

healthy food - WELFARE RULES THWART MOVING UP - SIBEJO

The welfare reform law of 1996 required Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients to meet �stringent work requirements.� TANF is delivered to states through block grants, which require that states place a certain percentage of people into the workforce. However, many of these jobs are low-wage, and states discourage people from acquiring skills for better jobs, pushing them to find a job as soon as possible. Lacking training or education, these low-wage workers find it nearly impossible to advance into higher paying jobs.The number of TANF recipients has decreased from 13 million in 1995 to three million today. And those who could not find even low-skill jobs in the allowed amount of time lost all government help, which thrust them into deep poverty. Today, about 1.5 million households, including about three million children, are living on $2.00 per person or less per day.

Source: The Atlantic, 7/11/16, Failing Welfare Reform

healthy food - FOOD DIVIDE GROWS BETWEEN RICH & POOR - SIBEJO

Overall, Americans are eating better. Between 2002 and 2012, the percent of people eating a poor diet fell from around 56% to under 46%. But it's a different story if you separate people out by income. High-income Americans are eating better than ever � swapping fruit juice for whole fruits, replacing refined grains with whole grains, and eating tons of nuts � while the low-income group has improved much more modestly. Here's how some of the trends break down:

• High-income people are eating a lot more fruit, while those in the low-income group didn't see a significant change. By 2012, high-income people were eating almost two more servings of fruit per week, replacing fruit juice (a less healthy option) with whole fruit.
• Everyone is eating more whole grains, but only high-income people are dropping their consumption of refined grains like white bread and corn flakes.
• Everyone is drinking fewer sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and sports drinks, but high-income people are drinking a lot less than low-income people. The two are basically falling in lockstep.

Food cost is undoubtedly part of the reason for this gap, but it doesn't fully explain it. Other, less tangible factors also play a role: the time cost to buying foods and preparing them yourself; a nutrition knowledge barrier, and heavy marketing of junk food and fast food to low-income people.  

Source: The Week, 7/4/16, Food Gap

healthy food - Coalition on Human Needs Responds to Speaker Ryan's proposal - SIBEJO

Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statementy in response to the House GOP anti-poverty proposal:

�The plan put forth by House Speaker Paul Ryan and his GOP colleagues actually is a blueprint for exacerbating poverty and inequality in the United States. While lacking in legislative and policy specifics, this blueprint cannot be separated from the budget proposal championed by House Republicans. This year�s GOP budget derives three-fifths of its cuts from programs that help low- and moderate-income Americans, while protecting tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations.

�The issue of funding is a gaping hole in this proposal. It costs money to give people the tools to escape poverty. But the budget approved by the House Budget Committee earlier this year would cut low-income programs by $3.7 trillion over 10 years, mostly in health care, but also cutting SNAP by $150 billion (a 30 percent cut between 2021-2026), and cutting Pell Grants and other low-income education programs. Do Ryan and his colleagues now disavow these cuts?

�While the report mostly chooses rhetoric over specific proposals, it does hint at an intention to reduce cash assistance. In one very troubling example, it criticizes Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for children with disabilities, calling for �access to needed services in lieu of cash assistance.� Children who receive SSI have severe and long-term disabilities, requiring time and expense that diminish their parents� ability to work. Denying cash assistance to these families will drastically worsen their ability to provide for their children�s significant needs. 

�The report vaguely favors giving states more authority to change federal programs. This appears to be a nod to Speaker Ryan�s past recommendation to create �Opportunity Grants� � fixed funding to states that allow them to change rules in effective safety net programs. It is also similar to the House Agriculture Committee�s Child Nutrition Reauthorization proposal to allow three states to take a reduced funding level and change school meals program standards as they choose. There should be no doubt that freezing or reducing funding while allowing states to change program rules is no way to reduce poverty or increase opportunity. Instead, it will give states more incentives to deny help to people who need it. 

�If Speaker Ryan and his colleagues are serious about cutting poverty and expanding opportunities for American families, they should embrace policies that actually benefit working families. This requires investing in good jobs, raising the minimum wage, ensuring an adequate safety net, adopting family-friendly work policies such as paid medical leave and predictable hours, and investing in human capital through a sound education system, all the way from pre-K through college.�

healthy food - BABIES COST MORE WHEN YOU�RE POOR - SIBEJO

New parents quickly learn there are very few financial supports for families with young children to help them buy baby supplies. Many low-income families are doubly penalized because they can�t  afford to join wholesale stores or shop online and therefore pay more for basic supplies. One blogger (with Amazon Prime and Costco memberships and a car) compared her costs with the retail options available to a mother without these options.

• Diapers--22 cents/diaper online versus 36 cents at the local grocery store
• Formula--$20 per week at big box store versus $29 at local grocery
• Baby food--$5 made at home (thanks to  food processor/blender/dishwasher) versus $18 for jars at grocery store
• Baby supplies (swaddles, laundry detergent, diaper cream, and bottles)--free thanks to points on Amazon credit card versus $10 at grocery store.

Total savings=$41 per week or over $2000 a year.

Source: Talk Poverty, 6/1/16, Baby Costs