The Senate is expected to vote on its version of the Big Brutal Bill this week and—like its House counterpart—it’s devastating for nutrition and health care programs for vulnerable communities.
The Senate proposal includes the largest cut to SNAP in history, as part of a budget package that guts basic needs programs.
The bill also contains the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, and will result in 16 million people losing their health insurance. A recent analysis of the House-passed bill found that because of the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and reduced staffing requirements at nursing homes, 51,000 people will die each year.
Additionally, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as many as 330 rural hospitals nationwide could close or reduce services as a result of this bill. And, new research shows that cuts to Medicaid along with SNAP will reduce jobs by 1.2 million nationwide, equivalent to about a 0.8% increase in the unemployment rate.
Cutting the heart out of basic needs programs including SNAP and Medicaid doesn’t save states or the federal government money—it denies care and creates bigger problems down the road, shifting the burden to service providers, local governments, and taxpayers. This will lead to higher costs and more strain on budgets—household and state budgets alike. And it will cost lives.
It’s not too late to change course. Now more than ever, it’s critical that the Senate act to protect health care, nutrition, and other essential services that help millions of families meet their basic needs. We should strengthen support for these programs—not take them away
Making Community Eligibility Work with Lower ISPs
Community eligibility is a federal option that allows high poverty schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. Schools can participate in community eligibility as long as 40 percent of the enrolled students are automatically eligible to receive free school meals—typically by way of direct certification. Thousands of schools across the nation have adopted community eligibility with ISPs between 40 and 60 percent and are finding that it can help improve their school nutrition finances, while increasing the number of students experiencing the educational and health benefits linked to eating school meals. . Now is the time to start planning for community eligibility implementation for the 2019-2020 school year. Join this webinar to learn about the strategies and resources available for making community eligibility work at schools with ISPs between 40 and 60 percent.