Mayors and AMA say food stamps shouldn't pay for soft drinks

Louisville's Greg Fischer is among 18 mayors asking Congress to ban sugary drinks from purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps.  One day after their June 18 letter, the American Medical Association adopted a policy supporting the removal of sugar-sweetened drinks from SNAP.

In a the letter sent to congressional leaders, the mayors said it is "time to test and evaluate approaches limiting" the use of the subsidies for sugar-laden beverages to fight obesity and diseases linked to obesity, reports Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press.

At its annual meeting, the AMA took several steps toward controlling the country's increasing obesity problem, including calling obesity a disease, an action that may prompt insurers to cover medical treatments aimed against obesity. “The AMA is working to improve the nation’s health care outcomes, particularly cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which are often linked to obesity,” said AMA President Dr. Ardis Hoven of Lexington. “Removing sugar-sweetened beverages from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will help encourage healthier beverage choices.”

This isn't the first attempt to ban soda from SNAP. The Department of Agriculture, where the program is housed, turned down such a request from New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010. The city had proposed a two-year experiment to see if a sugary beverage ban would reduce obesity among food-stamp recipients. But, the department rejected the plan and said a soda ban would “perpetuate the myth” that food stamp users make poor shopping decisions, The New York Times reported. Read about Kentucky's SNAP program here.

The soda lobby, the American Beverage Association, said sugary drinks shouldn't be singled out as a cause of obesity. It called obesity "a complex health condition that affects Americans of all income levels." Last year, more than 47 million low-income Americans used food stamps.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/06/18/2683656/18-mayors-limit-use-of-food-stamps.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/06/18/2683656/18-mayors-limit-use-of-food-stamps.html#storylink=cpy

Website eases application process for SNAP, formerly food stamps, and promotes healthy food

With a federal grant, the state Department for Community Based Services has launched a customer service website to promote healthy foods by assisting the families receiving food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps.

The portal allows people to check their eligibility for SNAP and apply for benefits with a shorter application that will be followed by a DCBS interview. They can also check their benefit status, report changes and receive electronic notices.

The agency says an online application eliminates any transportation issues a family may have with visiting a DCBS office, and encourages applications. “Modern improvements like this make it easier for families to apply for benefits and ultimately increase access to healthy food,” said Audrey Haynes, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which houses DCBS.

“SNAP helps people of all ages afford healthy food,” said DCBS Commissioner Teresa James. “For some of our DCBS customers, it means the difference between having a family meal or nothing at all. This website makes applying for benefits, making updates or accessing information even easier since customers don’t have to make an office appointment or even pick up the phone to get help.”

Since the portal’s launch on March 11, DCBS has received more than 1,000 electronic applications. Click here to learn more about SNAP. 

Yum! Brands asks state to allow elderly, disabled and homeless to use food stamps at restaurants

Louisville-based Yum! Brands, which owns the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains, wants the homeless, disabled and elderly to be able to pay for their meals with food stamps. The company registered last month to lobby the administration of Gov. Steve Beshear on the matter. Yum! executives have given to Beshear's re-election campaign, The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus notes.

"Under the federal food-stamp program, states may authorize (use of food stamps) by the elderly, disabled or homeless, who often have difficulty preparing meals," Loftus writes. "Only Michigan, Arizona and parts of California have done so."

"We think it's a win-win," said Paul Carothers, the company's vice president for government affairs. "It's obviously of interest from a business standpoint, and it provides access to the elderly, homeless and disabled who are often underserved."

But state Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, told Loftus, "My concern is that so much of that food is the most unhealthy food in America ... and it leads to obesity and all kinds of other health problems."

Carothers said he did not see a difference between customers being able to pay for their meals at KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell with food stamps and being able to buy candy bars and soda at the grocery store, which is allowed. "The only thing they cannot use their benefits for ... now are household products, alcohol, tobacco and those sorts of things," Carothers said, adding that Yum! meals "stack up nutritionally quite well. For some of these people access to a restaurant may be their only opportunity for a hot meal."

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services told Loftus that about 814,000 Kentuckians receive food stamps, but could not say what percentage are elderly, disabled or homeless. (Read more)