Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 29, 1990 TAG: 9005290118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
The federal government, through the states, provides this aid under the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children.
Under the welfare program, one of the government's most successful, vouchers to buy food are given to 4.5 million expectant and new mothers and young children who are at high risk of malnutrition.
The program serves nearly one-third of all babies born in the United States.
Many assessments of the WIC program, including several studies financed by the federal government, have concluded it saves lives and improves the health of women and children, reducing infants' mortality and increasing their birth weight.
By preventing illnesses, it saves money for Medicaid, the government's health care program for the poor.
So Congress spared WIC when other welfare programs were cut back in the Reagan administration.
But this year the $2.1 billion the federal government gives the states has not been enough to cover the increased cost of milk, orange juice, cereal and infant formula, the main items in the WIC food package.
The federal Food and Nutrition Service had estimated food prices would rise 4 percent in this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
But state officials say the cost of items in the basic food package increased 8 percent in just the first half of this fiscal year.
In interviews, they said some of the increases were seasonal and would probably level off, but added they had little hope prices would decline any time soon.
About a dozen states contribute their own money to the program, but they are not obligated to do so and many are under severe fiscal pressures of their own.
"We face two alternatives," said Betsy R. Clarke, director of the program in Oregon. "Either cutting the food package or reducing the number of participants."
Some states are doing both.
In a typical cost-saving move, Texas has cut the cereal allowance for 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds to 24 ounces a month, from 36 ounces.
It will also drop 27,000 people from the food program. Early this year, it was serving 357,200 women and children.
On June 1, California will halve the monthly juice allowance for children 3 to 5 years old.
The state expects to save $1.2 million by providing a monthly allotment of 144 ounces of juice for such children, who have been getting 288 ounces.
In addition, California expects to save $6 million by eliminating vouchers for cheese, a major source of calcium.
"At least half the states in the country are cutting back caseloads," said Dennis H. Bach of Iowa, president of the National Association of WIC Directors, an organization of state and local officials.
"And many are also putting restrictions on the food package in order to contain costs," he said.
At a time when Congress and President Bush are looking for ways to cut federal spending, it will not be easy to find more money for the WIC program.
Rep. Tony P. Hall, D-Ohio, chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger, and other members of Congress have proposed a $150 million increase for next year.
"Originally, we hoped to reach more mothers and children, but now we find the extra money will be needed just to stay even," Hall said.
Federal officials said they did not know how many people had been removed from the program's rolls by the states' cutbacks.
F. Philip Shanholtzer, a spokesman for the Food and Nutrition Service, said inflation in food prices had "outstripped everyone's predictions," adding he hoped the states would minimize the reductions in benefits by making changes in the food package to save money.
States that are trimming their rolls are focusing on lower-risk cases.
Missouri is terminating benefits in April through September for 14,000 children who show no clinical signs of malnutrition despite inadequate diets.
But C. Richard Blount, director of food and nutrition services for the Missouri Health Department, said some of those children would probably qualify for benefits again after a few months when they have symptoms of anemia and malnutrition.
If that happens, he said, the state will have to take other steps to save money by restricting eligibility.
Debra C. Stabeno, food program director in the Texas Health Department, said, "We are reducing our rolls through attrition and we are not enrolling new people" in certain categories.
Among those excluded are pregnant women, breast-feeding women and infants whose diet has been diagnosed as inadequate, but who show no clinical signs of malnutrition.
Lynne McElroy, chief of nutrition service for the Oklahoma Health Department, said, "We have to reduce our caseload by about 15,000 people, to 40,000."
Iowa intends to remove 4,000 people from its program, which now serves 49,000 people, Bach said.
New York state, which had an average of 380,000 people on its rolls in the first half of this fiscal year, is trying to get down to 360,000.
The WIC program accounts for one-third of the nation's infant formula sales.
In the past two years, many states exploited their market share, demanded competitive bids and won substantial volume discounts from formula makers.
States used the savings to provide services to more people, as the federal government told them to do.
But food price increases have eaten up the savings.
From April 1989 to April 1990, retail prices rose 13.3 percent for fruit juices, 11.1 percent for fresh whole milk and 5.9 percent for cereals.
Overall, food prices rose 6.2 percent while the Consumer Price Index for all items increased 4.7 percent.
Federal officials sometimes defend cuts in the monthly food package by saying beneficiaries can still get the recommended daily allowance of nutrients such as calcium, iron, protein, vitamin A and vitamin C.
But Stabeno said, "You can get 100 percent of the RDA and still be hungry."
by CNB