Amidst all of the talk of reforming health care and fixing the economy, one very important issue with society is being ignored by politicians. This issue is the obesity problem in the United States. Now in some cases, people are overweight because they do not care what they eat. Other people are overweight because of their genes or their health. The government has no control over the weight of these people. However, there is one large group of people that can be helped by the government with their weight problem. Ironically, this group consists of the people are unable to afford food.
In my first paper in Intro to College Writing, I wrote about the WIC program and how it protects the rights of children to receive proper nutrition. As a recap, this program provides food aid to expectant mothers, infants, and young children. WIC pays for specific healthy food items to properly nourish mothers and young children. Only healthy foods can be bought with WIC - the cash register at supermarkets reject any foods with corn syrup or too much sugar. There is even a limitation that only wheat bread can be bought because it provides more essential nutrients to young and developing children. Unhealthy foods are cheaper, so the less fortunate often buy the unhealthy food so they can buy more of it. The limitations are a good thing because they allow WIC to provide children with healthy foods to start their diets off in the right direction.
A program that does not provide the same nutritional protection is the EBT program. The only restrictions on EBT Food Stamps are that cigarettes, alcohol, taxes goods, and prepared foods cannot be bought. Cookies, chips, soda, fruits saturated in corn syrup, and other junk foods are free game when it comes to buying food with EBT. I am a cashier at Market Basket and many orders I ring through that are paid for using EBT are loaded with fatty foods such as these. Many times, people buy more junk than actual food and it breaks my heart to see how obese many children are that are on EBT. I often see people watching the total for their order and they always grab candy bars to use up the rest of their card. This is a very unhealthy habit and in my opinion, any money not used buying regular groceries should be returned to the government to help someone else in need. "Using up what is left on the card" on impulse items (gum and candy) is very wrong and is taking advantage of the program.
There is another part of the EBT program and that is EBT Cash Benefits. With Cash Benefits, a certain amount of money can be used to buy taxes items as well (i.e. toilet paper, stamps, cutlery). There is a problem with this as well; the Cash Benefits portion of the EBT Card can be withdrawn from an ATM to provide an untraceable source of cash. This cash can be used to buy cigarettes, booze, and it can even be used for gambling (although these are not the intended purpose of the cash). I see people insert their EBT card into the ATM at work and walk directly to the Customer Service Desk to buy cigarettes with the cash they just withdrew. This also saddens me because that money was supposed to go to help the family/children with basic necessities. Parents neglect their kids to get themselves a fix of nicotine, and the government does not prevent this from happening.
One day, I figured out that 21% of my paycheck is taken out in taxes (and I am just part time, making often less than $100 a week). A large amount of these taxes are taken out for Food Aid programs such as WIC and EBT. I am all for helping those in need who do not abuse the system, but it frustrates me when that much hard earned money is taken out to help nourish people, who end up morbidly obese because the government is not restricting all food aid programs. Only healthy foods should be allowed. As far as Cash Benefits goes, people should not be allowed to take the money out of an ATM and they should only be allowed to buy the intended products of the program like toilet paper and paper towels. I love the WIC program for it achieves its goal of properly nourishing expectant mothers and their babies/young children. Other programs need to be reformed to have limits like the WIC program so they can do what they are intended to do. By limiting foods to only being healthy foods, manufacturers will end up reformulating their products so they will contain less fat, sugar, syrup, and sodium. They will reformulate their products so they don't lose profit (I see more junk food bought with EBT than I see bought with cash, credit, and debit orders). When programs like EBT are reformed, America will be at a healthier weight. When Americans are in better shape, they will have less health risks like heart attack and stroke. With less risk of disease, lives will be saved and our new Universal Health Care will not need to spend as much. With less government spending in one area, it can create more jobs and help more people. By creating more jobs, less will be reliant on government programs, leading in even less government spending. More people will then be paying into the system, resulting in more money for the government. The cycle will then continue. By fixing broken food aid programs, people will be thinner, healthier, and end up employed. The U.S. government will also have more money to help others and to pay back its own debts. A simple reform of the EBT program will fix many societal issues, including childhood obesity. So why do our politicians keep ignoring the issue?
Please voice your opinion. Am I right, do we need food aid reform? Is my logic incorrect? Am I too cynical of the programs? Does anything need to be changed at all?
For further reading:
http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/17533/
An article that provides great coverage on the abuse and loose rules of EBT is at http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/banking-lending-credit-services-payment/15173799-1.html
If the government is generous enough to aid poor people in buying food, it should be able to set restrictions to control the system. I agree that many people who qualify for financial help from the government to feed themselves and their children take advantage of these programs. For example, buying unnecessary (not to mention unhealthy) items for the sake of using up the rest of the money on an EBT card is not right. Also, only healthy foods should be able to be purchased. Giving poor people money to buy junk food is not beneficial for them and will just cause them to become obese; this will give them yet another problem aside from financial trouble to deal with. Cash should not be able to be withdrawn from these programs because people will buy items that the help was not meant to be used for. There needs to be restrictions on these government sponsored programs so that people do not take advantage of them.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree that people should provide enough money for poor people to buy healthy food. Many people cannot afford to buy healthy food and that's why they are obese. The government has to work on making healthy food more cheaper and not making junk food available many times. The government should let all people take advantage of the programs they have to offer so they could be healthier and that they do not have any financial issues. The programs have to be cheaper.
ReplyDeleteIt frustrates me to see people using money from the government to buy a lot of junk food, but not because of obesity issues. As was suggested in the blog, the money could be used "to help someone else in need." This is complicated, however, because since healthy foods are said to be more expensive, there could be no extra money for people to give back to the government. The provided article says, "Anti-hunger activists have said low-income people should have the same freedom of choice in buying foods as middle class Americans." This current freedom of choice conflicts with possible money going to others in need. Overall, I agree that some type of aid reform is needed but this is because, once again, more people need access to food.
ReplyDeleteI actually would take the opposite stance and say that the government should have few major restrictions on what people receiving aid should be able to buy. I feel as though, on the whole, these people are struggling, despressed, and doing the best that they can to provide for their families. Many are likely embarassed that they need to be on governmental aid to provide basic necessities for their children; I find it almost condescending to take a parental role and restrict how they can use their food stamps. Further, in the spirit of freedom, why should poor people have to eat things they may not like when other options are right in the next aisle? Wealth shouldn't give you the right to eat poorly and tax the health care system while the poor are punished simply for being poor.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the concerns raised about healthy eating, but Alison's comment has made me think. If we believe that the government should restrict the purchases of people on food stamps, then why shouldn't the government restrict what those not on food stamps can purchase? Government regulation is fairly common--the Food and Drug Administration restricts the sale and content of many items. How would we feel if that organization simply banned fatty foods, cigarettes, or alcohol? All of these things are proven to be harmful to public health, and abuse of any of them leads to higher health care costs for everyone. As Alison says, why should poor people be subject to restrictions that others aren't?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it would be helpful to think of it another way: How many of you receive financial aid (almost all of which is supported by tax revenues)? How many of you spend money that could be going toward your tuition on smartphones, jewelry, parties, maybe even fatty foods and alcohol? Should there be restrictions on how students with financial aid spend their money?
ALL excess government school aid should be returned to the government or applied directly to another student's bill (such as another family member at the school). Society has become less and less honest over the years and it sickens me knowing that with the state of our economy, people are still taking more than they need. Even if not to help out the economy, there is still someone else out there who cannot go to school because they cannot afford it. Can one person's selfishness really justify denying another person an education?
ReplyDeleteAs far as the issue of the rich dictating what the poor can and cannot eat,for one, people should be happy for what is given to them. I grew up always being told to always be thankful when given something. Now look at the issue a different way: If I am going to give you a house, would you complain if I gave you a mansion and refused to give you a dilapidated house in a slum? Maybe I care about your welfare and do not want to put you in danger. Welfare programs are to protect the welfare of the U.S. citizens. The reason I want the food aid programs reformed is to help people live healthy lives. Even if the aid programs are not fixed like they should be, I would at least like to see the restriction that cookies, chips, soda and candies cannot be bought with food stamps. These are not technically foods and provide absolutely no nutrition. Junk food should be bought with cash. It is not a necessity and by buying it for people, it does not help their welfare whatsoever.