Blaming obesity and ignoring science

While approximately a third of Americans have made New Year’s resolutions that involve diet and exercise, over 300,000 Iowans are hungry and just want to be able to put food on their families’ table.

Iowa leadership has once again demonstrated its inability to understand science and is using this ignorance as a justification to decrease access to food assistance. In the Dec. 22 Governor’s statement on why Iowa declined to participate in the Summer EBT program that provides additional funds for low-income families, the word obesity was used three times in the statement.

Not once was food insecurity mentioned.

According to a statement by the Iowa Hunger Coalition on Dec. 18, however, food insecurity is a dire issue in Iowa, “Right now, hundreds of thousands of Iowans are struggling to put food on the table. Food banks and food pantries across the state are facing record-breaking need.”

The Iowa Legislature has passed several bills not backed by science into law that reduce programs for low-income families, with one of them, Senate File 494, also affecting participation in Medicaid and SNAP. But this particular decision was not even reviewed by the Legislature. It came from the governor’s office during the December holidays — three days before Christmas, to be precise.

A little more than a week prior, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Director, Kelly Garcia, cited administrative challenges as obstacles but not deal-breaking barriers. “But don’t let that necessarily be a signal of us saying no,” Garcia said. “We’re just trying to work through the detail.” Obesity concerns were not a part of the Dec. 14 public meeting, yet the Dec. 22 statement reads “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” This is misleading, given the lack of data that connects EBT funds to obesity.

“There is not great evidence that [their] diet is any worse than someone not participating in SNAP,” explains Dr. Lyndi Buckingham-Schutt, Assistant Professor and Community Nutrition and Health State Extension Specialist. “In general, America has a problem eating nutrient dense diets.” Citing a 2021 USDA study, she goes on, “The biggest barrier to healthy eating is the cost of food.”

So, according to the DHHS decision, in order to ensure families are eating healthy, we are taking away $29 million in federal funding from families that could ease some of their hunger pains. “We are penalizing people for being poor,” Luke Elzinga, Policy and Advocacy Manger of DMARC and the Board President of the Iowa Hunger Coalition. The governor’s decision follows a letter co-written by Sen. Chuck Grassley on Dec. 7 calling for a reduction in “overpayment” of SNAP funds to families. In a Dec. 18 statement, the Iowa Hunger Coalition estimates that, if passed, this would cut an additional $73 per month from families, in addition to the $140 per child this summer.

Elzinga argues, “We can’t participate because there are not enough nutrition restrictions, and they are citing Iowa’s obesity rate as justification. If you know anything about food insecurity — this flies against basic knowledge.”

“Federal COVID-era cash benefit programs are not sustainable and don’t provide long-term solutions for the issues impacting children and families,” the DHHS statement went on to say. Which is interesting, given that Congress did make this funding sustainable on Dec. 22, 2022, and the $2.2 million cost to the state to receive $29 million in federal aid pales in comparison to the unsustainable and underbudgeted cost of the school voucher program.

And, in comparison to forgone revenue due to the reduction of taxes for the wealthy and for corporations.

Or compared to the $21 million administrative startup cost of SF494 that will most likely cut off health care access to vulnerable Iowans.

We live in a state that would force 10-year-olds to have babies, a state that is unwilling to expand programs to feed these babies, but is willing to spend the administrative money to slash said programs.

“We believe in feeding kids, period. Full stop. But there are a lot of operational details we’re needing to plan for because Congress didn’t lay out a full package of how to operationalize this program,” Garcia stated in the Dec. 14 public meeting.

Yet, similar to details involving implementation of SF 494, very few details of what programs Iowa plans to augment or how they will be enhanced have been provided.

There was indication that they will enhance the SNAP program, the same program has diminished in Iowa, according to the Dec. 22 statement, “HHS data shows a decline in SNAP enrollment since 2020, down from over 150,000 households to 132,000 for 2024.” So, does enhancing this program mean that it and similar programs will be more accessible to the other 100,000 hungry households? Or are they not part of the equation?

Another current alternative are the summer feeding programs. For anyone who has tried to access these seasonal programs, the potential access barriers are immediately apparent. Caregivers must accompany children — so if the parents are working or at school, kids are not able to eat. And the assumption is that low-income families have transportation means and physical ability for their kids to eat the meal on location. Reporting on this issue last summer, numerous times I pulled up to a feeding program at the designated time and location and they were not there — apparently, staffing and adverse weather also present problems.

And, if we really want to talk about nutrition, these foregone EBT cards and regular SNAP program are also eligible for participation in common sense and evidence-based programs such as Double up food bucks, which allows participants to double their benefit when purchasing eligible healthy produce items.

The legislative session starts this week. “Iowans should raise this issue with their state reps or senators,” says Elzinga. “Reach out and encourage them to support summer EBT cards in 2024. This should be a bipartisan win.”

If you are not sure who your legislator is, you can find them here.

Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.espersen@thegazette.com