CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The federal government wants more clarification from West Virginia on a waiver to remove soda and add some hot food items to the list of eligible food and drinks under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
This is according to a report and document obtained by MetroNews that shows the USDA had questions for the state about how this will be implemented.
Just earlier this week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said that part of his health initiative is eliminating soda from SNAP and giving eligibility to some hot food items, like rotisserie chicken.
“It’s ensuring that there’s no taxpayer subsidizing of soda,” Morrisey said. “People can still have soda. I think that’s important. A lot of people don’t write that, but they can have it. But what we’re trying to do is have more of the hot foods and also separately we’re looking at more healthy bundles.”
The state submitted a waiver to do this, but according to the USDA, who would approve it, there are still some questions about how this will be implemented and informed in stores and if the state just wants to remove soda or other drinks like carbonated water and tea.
For the hot food bar items, the USDA felt there were not clear enough directions of what is allowed to be purchased and what is not and how they would let people know.
Kelly Allen, the executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said it is these type of complex situations and questions that arise that have deterred these waivers in the past.
“There’s also no evidence that they actually change diet and no evidence that people who rely on SNAP have poorer diet than other families, so I think in the past, that’s been why these have not been approved because they’re not really linked to better health outcomes, and they do just create a lot of complexities for all the people involved,” Allen said.
Amy Jo Hutchinson, a campaign director for MomsRising and a former SNAP recipient, is in agreement as she said the waiver both complicates the process and puts more stigma on the poor. She said if this was really about being healthier, then the conversation would be about banning soda for everyone or be about fully expanding SNAP, rather than restricting it.
“If it’s about nutrition then why aren’t we expanding SNAP benefits?” she said. “So we can afford to go out and buy those healthy foods in the grocery store. You know, I could go out and buy Hamburger Helper for a couple of bucks because it’s usually on sale, but it costs me $7 for a little bag of mandarin oranges, so if this this is really about nutrition why aren’t we expanding the SNAP program instead, rather than trying to put all these policies and restrictions on it?”
Allen noted that all of this is happening while Congress looks at potentially cutting SNAP, including a program called SNAP Education that would help spread guidance and awareness about changes with the waiver, if it is approved.
“I think it’s important to consider this waiver in the broader context of SNAP right now. Congress is moving the bill through their process that would completely defund SNAP-Ed, that would upend the ability of the state to track whether this is working and educate people on it,” Allen said.
If the waiver is approved, West Virginia would join Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska as the states who have restricted using SNAP for soda.
发表回复