Maybe I’m too sympathetic to conservative causes, but I find it difficult to support a government welfare program that essentially is killing people. SNAP provides a modest benefit to the very poor who otherwise would go hungry but it also encourages bad eating habits that are leading to diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure and early death. Expensive complications whose health coverage is picked up by tax dollars. Top purchases on SNAP include meats, often hamburger, soda and processed food. Things wrapped in excessive glossy plastic packaging. Hamburger Helper will a glass of soda might temporarily forestall hunger but it’s killing the body. There are no restrictions on SNAP besides it must be food or an artificial food “product”, can not be alcohol or tobacco or warm when purchased. But it can be fully prepared like a hot pocket or TV dinner, ready to be tossed in the microwave and then the packaging in the dumpster.
For women with infants and young children an enhanced benefit is available known as WIC. Unlike SNAP, it is a comprehensive nutrition program, that covers specific foods that have been determined to be healthy for infants and young children to avoid health complications due to malnutrition during infancy. It’s a good program, hardly controversial. But it as retailers and farmers note, much more complicated to administer as and a lot fewer retailers accept WIC. Would farm stands and farmers markets accept SNAP if they had to go through the limitations and paperwork of WIC? I would argue they should exempt direct to consumer sales like farmers markets from lists of healthy foods.
Big retailers and even corner stores could accept a SNAP like WIC program. But many object – especially the corner stores which have lower sales and it can be difficult to keep fresh fruit and vegetables fresh. One option might be frozen fruits and vegetables. Other small retailers say they don’t use bar codes and tracking individual purchases would be impractical. Indeed, many more retailers currently accept SNAP then do WIC. But a lot of the opposition, couched in helping the local bodaga and small rural retailer is actually hiding the fact that soda and processed food sales are so profitable. Even Walmart would cringe if they couldn’t sell soda or processed foods to SNAP recipients.
Truth is if SNAP became restrictive like WIC, a lot of retailers who don’t currently accept WIC due to all the limitations on what is covered, would start to accept a WIC-style SNAP program. There is a lot of money to be made by selling products to those with SNAP benefits. Billions and billions of dollars. Even rural retailers and bodagas who currently do not do WIC would feel it necessary to adopt the systems the necessary to cover such purchases. WIC lists can be confusing, but retailers could support such customers by labeling what products on the shelf are eligible for purchase with the SNAP like WIC program.
The health benefits are clear to limiting what can be purchased with SNAP. But people say that’s overly putative to the poor. Grocers and farmers, and particularly processed food manufacturers would prefer added benefits to those who buy healthy, rather then limiting what can be purchased with SNAP. But I disagree. Tax dollars should be used wisely, SNAP recipients are free to buy whatever treats they want with their own money. Many may not have a lot of money for that occasional ice cream treat, but that doesn’t mean taxpayers should be the one paying. Indeed, arguing for limitations on what SNAP purchases doesn’t mean that there should be a reduced benefit – but only that the benefit should be designed to buy healthy foods to fuel healthy bodies and minds. It’s quite possible that a more restricted food list would lead many not to fully utilize their benefits, which could allow the government to expand the benefits for others who more fully use the program to fuel their bodies.