Bill aims to keep more kupuna eligible for SNAP benefits

Seniors whose eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits has been lost or reduced by a recent increase in Social Security benefits could see relief through a bill introduced by Hawaiʻi U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda last week.

The Keep Kupuna Fed Act would exempt Title II income, or Social Security benefits, from counting against benefits under SNAP, which provides low-income households with financial assistance to purchase food.

SNAP recipients must earn below certain income thresholds to qualify for the program’s benefits, but meeting those requirements has recently become a more difficult task for low-income seniors with Social Security benefits.

Beginning in December, about 70 million Americans saw an 8.7 percent increase in their benefits following a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA. The adjustment is meant to offset inflation-driven increases in prices, but for some that increased income has also come at the cost of SNAP eligibility.

“I had people telling me that senior hunger is real. People are being forced even further into hunger and food insecurity as a result of what should have been a benefit,” Tokuda told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “What they were seeing was a net loss, with money that they were using for food literally leaving their wallets.”

An estimated 5-10 percent of the 300,000 people 60 years and older who live in Hawaiʻi are food insecure, according to a report by Hawaiʻi Appleseed, and more than 1 in 5 Hawaiʻi residents receives Social Security benefits, according to a 2022 report by AARP.