While filling up at a gas station recently, Janell Britton’s vision started to darken and blur, and her body broke out into a sweat. She suffers from hypoglycemia, a condition characterized by chronic low blood sugar, and she was minutes away from passing out. Having used all her cash to get gas, Britton pulled out her SNAP card to purchase soda, the cheapest and quickest way for her body to get sugar.
With new SNAP purchase restrictions, this method for instant relief will no longer be available to her.
As of April 1, Texans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also informally called food stamps, can no longer use benefits to purchase sweetened beverages and candy. While they agree that diabetics and hypoglycemics should eat nutritious foods to prevent their conditions from worsening, health experts and those with these chronic conditions also say the new SNAP restrictions will prevent them from quickly accessing sugar when their blood sugar levels drop to dangerously low levels. They say these restrictions result in inequitable treatment of people on SNAP because their wealthier peers who have these conditions can purchase these food items more easily…