American doctors are warning that if US lawmakers go ahead with their planned cuts to the food stamp program, more and more poor Americans will wind up in hospitals and doctorsâ„¢ offices as a result.
According to the American medical community, increased rates of diabetes and developmental problems for young children are among the health risks of hunger which would be a direct result of cutting funding for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
Aides familiar with talks between leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees have told The Washington Post that US Congress is likely to announce next week a multi-year farm bill that would cut $9 billion in funding for the SNAP.
The cuts are a compromise between nearly $40 billion in cuts to the program approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a $4 billion reduction approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
However, American doctors say the planned reduction of food stamp payments would backfire through higher Medicaid and Medicare costs as the federal government would end up with bigger health bills.
Å“If you’re interested in saving health care costs, the dumbest thing you can do is cut nutrition,” the Associated Press quoted Dr. Deborah Frank of Boston Medical Center as saying.
One in 7 Americans, of whom almost half are children, rely on food stamps to afford food.
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Source: Press TV