Two million SNAP households “faced food insufficiency” following the nationwide termination in March of so-called emergency allotments enacted during the pandemic, said researchers from the University of Pennsylvania medical school.
“This study shows the severe consequences of reducing SNAP benefit amounts at a time when inflation was causing rapid rises in food prices, and is especially important because of upcoming federal negotiations surrounding SNAP’s renewal in the farm bill at the end of September,” said Dr. Aaron Richterman, the lead author of the study.
Food insufficiency means households “sometimes or often do not have enough to eat” and is a more severe situation than the often-used gauge of food insecurity, according to the USDA, which publishes an annual report on food insecurity. Food insecurity means households were at times unable to acquire adequate food for one or more household member because they had insufficient money or other resources for food.
For their study, which was published in JAMA Health Forum, the researchers compared rates of food insufficiency in states that ended the emergency allotments before the federal cutoff with the rates in states where the additional benefits were still available. SNAP recipients experienced a 21 percent relative increase in both food insufficiency and food insufficiency among children. “These findings imply that more than two million more American households faced food insufficiency when emergency allotments ended in all states,” said the medical school.
Some 22.3 million households received SNAP benefits averaging $335 per household in May, according to USDA data. At their peak in November 2022, payments averaged $493 per household.