Talk:Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Archives/2015

Entitlements vs means-tested
The entry says SNAP is an entitlement program, because everyone eligible must receive benefits. That's incorrect. It's a means-tested benefit program. Social Security is an entitlement program. Medicare is an entitlement program. These words need to be used correctly. 75.146.120.210 (talk) 16:57, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Where exactly do you want it changed?  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) Please &#123;&#123;re&#125;&#125; 19:57, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

SNAP : the name is a euphemism. Furthermore...
Furthermore, The level of abuse is extremely high. I've seen it everywhere. People buying food with EBT, then whipping out a wad of cash for booze, cigarettes, condoms, lottery tickets. I see this almost every day. Also the mother with working-age children, all dressed much better than I am, getting hundreds of dollars of free groceries. And don't forget the rich college students I know who get EBT, and people I see bringing their grocery bags to their Mercedes, etc etc etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.232.191.16 (talk) 15:29, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

As required by law, a statistically valid sample of recipients has the amount of their benefits verified by the state (and confirmed by federal quality control). 2.96% (in 2014) dollars are given in error (that's both agency & client caused combined). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.56.29.49 (talk) 16:33, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

"Junk food" and "luxury items" - the SNAP law recognizes no such animals
The USDA site does not categorize any foods as "junk food" or "luxury items." In fact, it calls them what they are designated by law - "food items." The cited source says "Several times in the history of SNAP, Congress had considered placing limits on the types of food that could be purchased with program benefits. However, they concluded that designating foods as luxury or non-nutritious would be administratively costly and burdensome." Thus, there are no foods designated by USDA or the FNS as "junk food" or "luxury items." The subsection title (which is clearly separate from the page's listing of Eligible Food Items under the heading Additional Information) simply exists to explain that various claims or proposals have been made about restricting purchases, but have been rejected. The informational list might be examples of foods that various people have at one time or another claimed to be "junk food" or "luxury items" and proposed to restrict, but no official designation of any food item as "junk food" or a "luxury item" exists in any source. It's therefore improper for us to treat the issue as if there is any such official list as part of the "Eligible Food Items" of SNAP. That's why I moved the discussion of the claims about "junk food" or "luxury items" to a separate subsection which describes the debate about it, and should probably be expanded with a citation from the other side of the debate. I'll track one down. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 18:49, 27 December 2015 (UTC)