Dear Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation:
On behalf of public health experts, medical professionals, and medical institutions, we thank you for your continued support for federal nutrition programs, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other vital supports including
Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
As Congress considers budget proposals with significant cuts and restrictions to our nation’s safety net, including SNAP and child nutrition programs, Medicaid, and TANF, we want to express our deep concern about the harmful impact these changes will
have on the health and well-being of our nation. These cuts will be especially devastating for those least able to buffer themselves – among them, households with low incomes, older adults, children, and people with disabilities. We write to you to ask you to work with your colleagues to protect SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, and other critical safety net programs from devastating cuts and restrictions.
SNAP is the nation’s number one defense against hunger and food insecurity, which are major drivers of poor health throughout the lifespan. In Massachusetts, 1 in 6 residents benefit from the critical support supplied by SNAP. In December 2024, 27 percent
of participating households had at least one child. SNAP provides these households the ability to put food on their table and have the nutrition needed to grow and thrive. Nearly three-quarters of adults who participate in SNAP are low-wage workers,
and close to two-thirds of SNAP participants are children, elderly, or disabled. For families with low and inconsistent wages, SNAP helps to supplement budgets and keeps food on the table without sacrificing other basic needs, including rent, utilities,
child care, and health care.
As health experts we want to highlight that decades of research shows that SNAP is effective in reducing food insecurity, improving health, reducing health care costs, and supporting educational success.
Policies that deprive children, families, older adults, and individuals of adequate SNAP benefits damage the health of our community members’ bodies and brains.
Research from Children’s HealthWatch and other researchers has shown that a strong SNAP program does the following:
- Improve child health: Young children in families participating in SNAP are healthier, grow better, and are more likely to develop well emotionally and academically for their age compared to their peers in likely eligible families not participating
in the program, SNAP’s role in supporting child health begins even before birth. Research has shown that babies whose mothers participated in SNAP during pregnancy were less likely to be born at a low birth weight – a birth outcome that contributes
to a range of poor health outcomes.
- Improve caregiver health: Children need healthy families to thrive. Adults participating in SNAP have reported better mental health, and SNAP participation has been associated with lower risk of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension among adults
who participated in the program during early childhood.
- Increase food security for families and children: Caregivers often try to protect children from hunger by forgoing meals themselves. Compared to families who are likely eligible, but not participating in SNAP, families with young children participating
in SNAP are 22 percent more likely to be able to afford enough food for all members. Additionally, they are 33 percent more likely to have enough resources to protect children from having the size of meals cut. Conversely, families whose SNAP benefits
are terminated or reduced have significantly increased odds of household and child food insecurity, compared to families with consistent participation in SNAP.
- Reduces health care costs for children and adults: Food insecurity is linked to avoidable societal and individual health care expenditures. Children in families that struggle to afford food have higher health care utilization and costs. Food
insecurity was conservatively estimated in 2014 (which remains the most current estimate available) to cost the US economy more than $160 billion in excess healthcare costs annually. Children’s HealthWatch also estimated the health- related costs
attributable to food insecurity in Massachusetts to be more than $2.4 billion in 2016. Research shows that SNAP enrollment is associated with reduced health care spending among adults with low incomes.
- Alleviate economic hardships: Working in tandem with other programs to preserve family health, SNAP has a positive ripple effect. Families participating in SNAP are 28 percent more likely to be able to pay for medical expenses without foregoing
basic necessities like food, rent and utilities.
Sincerely,
Bay State Birth Coalition
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
Boston Medical Center Health System
Cambridge Health Alliance
Children’s HealthWatch
Codman Square Health Center
Community Care Cooperative (C3)
Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals
Health Care For All
Legal Key Partnership for Health and Justice
Lynn Community Health Center
Mass General Brigham
Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians
Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Massachusetts Medical Society
Massachusetts Public Health Alliance
National Association of Social Workers, Massachusetts Chapter
The Brookline Center for Community Mental Health
The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
The TEAM UP Scaling and Sustainability Center
Individual Providers:
Lloyd Alderson, MD
Carole Allen, MD, MBA, FAAP, Past Board Member AAP, Arlington
Neha Anand, MD, MPH
Rahela Aziz-Bose, MD, MPH, Boston
Sarah Bagley, MD, MSc, Newton
Angela L. Beeler, MD, Worcester
Madison Bell, LICSW, Boston
Harvey Bidwell, MD, MPH, Boston
Elijah Boliver, MPH, Boston
Kira Bona, MD, MPH, Sherborn
Anna Bottar, MD, FAAP, Grafton
Charlotte M. Boney, MD
Tehnaz Boyle, MD, PhD, Boston
Mandy Breaux, WHNP-BC, Hingham
Jennifer K. Brody, MD, MPH, Boston
Ashlee Burgess, MS, CCLS, Worcester
Kathryn Burke, MD, Worcester
Jocelyne Caplow, MD, Newton
Cori Cather, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Hamilton
Avik Chatterjee, MD, MPH, Cambridge
Annie Cheng, MD, Boston
Lucy Chie, MD, MPH, FACOG, Brookline
Francisca Chou, MD, Boston
Cheng-Chieh Chuang, MD, Quincy
Diana Clotter, Medical Assistant, Worcester
Megan Cole Brahim, PhD, MPH, Boston
Benjamin Cook, MD, Worcester
Kaitlyn Coppola, LMHC
Erika Gabriela Cordova Ramos, MD, Boston
Fiona Danaher, MD, MPH, Winchester
Thomas Day, MD, Boston
Christopher Driscoll, MD, Worcester
David B. Duong, MD, MPH, Boston
William Jerry Durbin, MD, Needham
Kelsey Egan, MD, MSc, Boston
Mark Eisenberg, MD, Cambridge
Leah Evans Wong, MD, Worcester
Emily Feinberg, ScD, CPNP, Boston
Penny Feldman, MD, Worcester
Rosa Felix, LICSW, Boston
Jennifer Fishbein, MD, Worcester
Molly F. Flynn, Pediatric NP, Worcester
Deborah A. Frank, MD, Brookline
Jaclyn French, LICSW, Boston
Kyle Frost, PhD, LP, Natick
Marie Gagnon, LADC, Worcester
Alison Galbraith, MD, MPH, Newton
Arvin Garg, MD, MPH, Boston
Ellen Golden, MSW, LICSW, Canton
Gail E. Gordon, LICSW
Ann Graff Banks, LICSW, Boston
Shaina Greenberg, LICSW, Cambridge
Jessica Gregory, MD, Boston
Patricia Guglietta, MD, Milton
Jennifer Hall, CLC, RD/LDN, Holden
Emma Hartswick Finch, MD, MPP, Cambridge
Lacey Hochman, LICSW, Cambridge
Charles Homer, MD, MPH, Brookline
Heather Hsu, MD, MPH, Boston
Shaelah Huntington, MSN, CPNP-PC, Boston
Daniel Ingram, CNWE, PN-1C, Longmeadow
Anthony Ishak, PharmD, BCPS, Brookline A
ditya Kalluri, MD, Boston
Nikita Kalluri, MD, MPH, Boston
Jack Keller, PMHNP-BC, Brookline
Susan Kessler, LICSW, Stoneham
Maddie Kleiman, PNP, Boston
Sunny Kung, MD, Stoneham
Catherine M. Lew, RN, BSN
Madison Louis, MPH, Boston
Katherine
Luzuriaga, MD
Paula Madison, RN, Holden
Lucy Marcil, MD, MPH, Boston
Jolie Matheson, MS Genetic Counseling, Sturbridge
Bonnie Mathews, MD, Worcester
Maggie McGean, MD, Boston
Heather McNally, BSW, Boston
Nisha Mehta, LICSW, Holbrook
Marybeth Meservey, WHNP, RN, Boston
Erin Meyer, MD, Natick
Rose L. Molina, MD, MPH, Cambridge
Beverly Nazarian, MD, Worcester
April Perez-Moore, DO, Monson
Anne Powell, MD
Anjali Rajkumari Oberoi, MD, Worcester
Julia Rissmiller, MD, Westborough
Madhuri Roa, MD
Celeste Royce, MD
Nicole Rodis, MD, Worcester
Megan Sandel, MD, MPH, Brookline
Shannon Scott-Vernaglia, MD, Winchester
Jessalyn Shaw, MD, Worcester
Lea Sheward, MD, Boston
Maya Silvia, LCSW, Worcester
Ariella Slovin, MD, Revere
Katelyn Soares, MD, Worcester
Elizabeth Soffer, MD, Boston
Emma Steffens, CPhT, Newton
Emily Stewart, DSW, LICSW, Boston
Sara Stulac, MD, MPH, Boston
Samantha Symes, LICSW, Boston
Joelle Taknint, PhD, MSc, Boston
C. Abigail Temple, MD, Boston
Alyssa Tilhou, MD, PhD, Boston
Destiny Tolliver, MD, Boston
Michelle Trivedi, MD, MPH, Worcester
Karen Turner, OT, MS, OTR, Boston
Rita Wang, MD, Boston
Cheryl K. Warner, MD, FACP, DipACLM
Blair Wylie, MD, MPH, Boston
Dory Ziperstein, LICSW, Boston
View a PDF version of this letter here.
This letter was sent to: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Edward Markey, U.S. Representative Katherine Clark, U.S. Representative Richard Neal, U.S. Representative James McGovern, U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch, U.S. Representative William
Keating, U.S. Representative Lori Trahan, U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley, U.S. Representative Seth Moulton, and U.S. Representative Jake Auchincloss
