The Circle of Insanity

Do the Insanity Dance-

US doctors warn Congress cutting food stamps could mean higher medical bills

Doctors are warning that if Congress cuts food stamps, the federal government could be socked with bigger health bills. Maybe not immediately, they say, but over time if the poor wind up in doctors' offices or hospitals as a result.
Among the health risks of hunger are spiked rates of diabetes and developmental problems for young children down the road.

That's one step forward.

The researchers analyzed eight years of California hospital records to find cases of hypoglycemia, when blood sugar plummets, and link them to patients' ZIP codes.
Among patients from low-income neighborhoods, hospitalizations were 27% higher in the last week of the month compared with the first, when most states send out government checks and food stamps, said lead researcher Dr Hilary Seligman of the University of California, San Francisco. But hospitalizations didn't increase among diabetics from higher-income areas, she reported Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs.

Another step forward.

She is working on a project with Feeding America, a network of food banks, to try to improve health by providing extra, diabetes-appropriate foods, including fresh produce and whole-grain cereals and pastas, for diabetics at a few food banks in California, Texas and Ohio.

Two steps back.
And everyone Do-si-do!