In the wake of federal changes to eligibility requirements to programs like SNAP and Medicaid, Hunger Free Vermont is hoping to expand access to food and other assistance programs by working with organizations across the state.
Executive Director Anore Horton tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley the federal changes have created confusion and additional paperwork for those seeking aid.
Anore Horton: This is putting a really big burden on people who are still eligible for SNAP for food assistance and for Medicaid for health insurance, but aren't used to having to provide all of these additional levels of verification and completing applications. And it's also put a lot of burden on state agencies to process all of this additional paperwork and it's costing states more to do all of this while they're also receiving less funding, 50% less funding, from the federal government than they used to. So what we've done is we've partnered with about 20 other nonprofit organizations in Vermont. So we've formed a coalition of organizations who have committed to increasing the number of people who they have who are assisting people with navigating through these application processes so that they can maintain their food and healthcare benefits.
Bradley: Anore, what's the role of Vermont 211 in all of this?
Anore Horton: Right. Well, it's a really important role. They have a whole database of information and places they can refer people. 211 can connect people directly with the right organization that offers benefit assistance and application assistance in their community, you know, or in their area. And so 211 is a partner for us in this ambitious benefit assistance project. You know, sometimes people call and they don't know exactly what they need. So we're proactively going to be screening every caller so that we can connect more people who are eligible to these essential benefits. Right now, what's happening in Vermont and all over the country is that people are losing these critical food and healthcare benefits as the cost of food and the cost of everything else we need to basically live is going up and up. And so that is a situation that's very frightening to us and is leading to a lot of really unnecessary suffering in our communities all across the country.
Bradley: Anore, when somebody comes to Hunger Free Vermont, do you then automatically refer them to Vermont 211?
Anore Horton: No. What we're using 211 for is as the as a connector, it's a pathway to get them screened to see if that's something they need and then connected to someone who can help them with that process.
Bradley: Do you have a sense of how many Vermonters will be needing these referrals, particularly after the federal changes?
Anore Horton: We've already seen in Vermont that 5,000 people have lost their SNAP benefits and the majority of those people are actually still eligible for those benefits but they were not able to get through the new paperwork processes. And this includes 1,800 children, over 400 seniors and you know it's just a deeply, deeply worrying trend that is happening in every state across the country without exception right now. What we fear is a new hunger catastrophe is looming for communities across the country.
That was Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont, discussing efforts to assist individuals in the wake of federal changes to SNAP and Medicaid benefits.
