Children’s HealthWatch is a non-partisan network of pediatricians, public health researchers, and child health policy experts who examine how policy decisions affect the health and well-being of young children and their families. We accomplish this by interviewing caregivers of young children in emergency departments and primary care clinics in four cities: Boston, MA; Minneapolis, MN; Little Rock, AR; and Philadelphia, PA, and, up until 2021, Baltimore, MD. Since 1998, we have interviewed more than 80,000 caregivers and analyzed that data to determine the impact of policy decisions on the health and development of young children.
The decision to discontinue the Food Security Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS-FSS) will obscure policymakers’ and the public’s ability to evaluate the state of food insecurity in the United States, making it difficult to inform targeted interventions that support access to a healthy, nutritious diet. Children’s HealthWatch strongly opposes this decision and urges the USDA to continue to create and release the annual Household Food Security in the United States reports.
The Household Food Security reports provide a nationally representative sample of the US population, with the broadest demographics and widest reach of any food insecurity survey in the US. It is the only national survey to collect data at the child-level, a crucial measure for determining the efficacy of child-focused programs, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or the child impact of programs that reach a wider population, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Even if other organizations attempt to fill the data collection gap left by this termination, the scale of this national dataset cannot be matched. This makes it difficult to identify trends, good or bad, that could shape future policy.
Food insecurity is a known health-related social risk for children and adults, starting prenatally. A robust body of evidence, including research from Children’s HealthWatch, has consistently demonstrated the serious mental and physical harm that food insecurity causes across the lifespan, including poor health, exacerbations of chronic conditions, anxiety, depression, poor child growth, and hospitalizations. In turn, treatment and management of these consequences lead to enormous and avoidable health care and educational costs incurred to society. Children’s HealthWatch estimated in 2016 that food insecurity costs $179 billion annually in avoidable health and educational consequences, which is $237 billion per year in today’s dollars.
The prevalence of food insecurity in the US is chronically high. Since 1995 food insecurity rates have been over 10%, reaching 13.5% in 2023. Policy choices can both raise or lower this rate. The annual Food Security in the U.S. reports helps evaluate the impact of those choices. For example, the 2022 edition of the report showed that significant investments in public supports held the national food insecurity prevalence flat during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the rising tide of unemployment and increased costs of living.
The cancellation of these reports comes at a precarious time for families in this country. Under H.R.1, approximately 4 million people in a typical month will lose some or all of their SNAP benefits. Without the annual food security reports, there will be no consistent, national measure of SNAP’s efficacy in this time of significant change. Research from Children’s HealthWatch and others shows that SNAP benefits lower families’ risk of food insecurity, improves child and adult health, and makes it possible for families to afford other basic necessities like rent. By terminating the Household Food Security in the U.S. reports, the USDA is making it harder to analyze SNAP’s and other programs’ impact and improve the programs.
The data collected in these reports, released annually for three decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations, have tracked the impacts of federal policy choices on families across the nation. At a time when costs of living are dramatically increasing due to tariffs, inflation, and safety net cuts at the federal level, food insecurity is expected to rise. The USDA’s termination of CPS-FSS means there will be no record of the consequences – likely harmful – of these new policies, reducing the ability of lawmakers to make evidence-driven decisions to reduce food insecurity. Children’s HealthWatch strongly urges the USDA to prioritize the health of children and families by continuing to administer the Food Security Supplement and releasing the annual Household Food Security in the U.S. reports.