The Trump administration has proposed cutting the Supplemental and Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 25% (“Feds to cut up to 15,000 in Baltimore from food stamps; Maryland, other states suing to halt change,” Jan. 23).
The Baltimore County Behavioral Health Advisory Council was created by statute to help those with behavioral health issues (substance use disorder and/or mental health problems). Many fellow citizens who suffer with these problems, as well as those with developmental disabilities, are already living at a subsistence level.
The council is concerned that this change will be harmful to the individuals who currently have access to these benefits. The changes will not motivate them to seek employment (as those who can already do that), but instead this policy change will cause greater hardship and further havoc in our communities.
To quantify the effects of this change, the Maryland Department of Legislative Services advised that, “…the program change would eliminate families receiving TANF from automatically being eligible for SNAP, a.k.a. "Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility.” Estimates are that between 24,000 and 43,000 Marylanders would be affected. Undoubtedly, a significant number of those who would be affected live in Baltimore County and adjacent jurisdictions, especially in Baltimore City, but those in rural counties would not be spared either.
Food, one of the primary social determinants of health, is essential for life and healthy eating is a step toward overall recovery and better health. This proposed policy is penny-wise and pound foolish as the consequences of making health and recovery harder to achieve will only spill over into other areas including individual and family stress, preventable medical encounters, more serious behavioral issues, drug-seeking behaviors and potentially higher crime rates.
We urge our elected officials to resist this policy change and to convey this position to those in the federal executive branch of government. It is short-sighted, cruel, and ineffective, especially to those who are most in need.
Dan Morhaim, M.D., Pikesville
The writer is chair of the Baltimore County Behavioral Health Advisory Council.
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