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Essay On Food Insecurity

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Increasing the Efficiency of SNAP

According to the latest annual food insecurity estimate from the federal government, fourteen percent of U.S. households lacked access to enough good food at some point last year (Delaney). Food insecurity exists in every county in America. The Do Something Organization stated that, in 2013, 17.5 million households were food insecure. More and more people are relying on food banks and pantries. (“11 facts about hunger in the USA”). It may be surprising to some people that such a problem is happening in the United States; the land of freedom and opportunity. There are many different programs in the USA that try to help decrease food insecurity, however, the most influential program in …show more content…
The SNAP program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that provides nutritional support to low income families in the United States. SNAP’s goal is to help fight poverty by providing benefits to those who have the most need. For this reason the program also supports elderly and disabled people who have low incomes. One of the program’s goals is to decrease food insecurity in the United States. Food insecurity is when a household lacks consistent access to the food that they need; this is most often because of an insufficient income. SNAP is different from other benefit programs in that it is not as restricted; it is more broadly available to consumers. Households need to apply in order to determine if their household is eligible for SNAP benefits. A SNAP budget is then calculated to determine the benefit amount they will receive. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, households have to meet all the income tests, like gross and net income, in order to qualify. Gross income is the income before any deductions have been made and net income is the income after the allowable deductions are applied. The

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