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More California Adults Are Struggling To Afford Food
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano volunteer and staff load groceries into cars in Vallejo on June 7, 2023.
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Shelby Knowles
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CalMatters
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Topline:
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released its 2022 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data on Wednesday. It showed that more people across the state are struggling with food insecurity.
Why it matters: CHIS interviews more than 20,000 households across the state on a variety of topics including insurance, COVID-19, mental health, discrimination, and climate change. It’s the largest survey of its kind in the country. Participants are chosen randomly, and the interviews can be conducted in several languages, including Korean, Tagalog, and Spanish. The data has helped shape health policy and programs for more than 20 years, according to UCLA.
Why now: Researchers said the issue of food insecurity was especially relevant for this study due to high inflation in 2021-22. The report highlighted adults in California making less than double the federal poverty level. For 2022, that would have been less than $27,180.
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“In 2022, 44% of adults under 200% of the federal poverty level reported being food insecure or not being able to afford enough food, a statistically significant increase from the 2020 and 2021 rates of 35.8% and 39% respectively,” said Todd Hughes, the director of CHIS. “Similarly, increasing numbers of adults in this income range are currently receiving food stamps.”
When broken down by age group, people between 18-64 years old had higher rates of food insecurity when compared to the 2020 data, during the pandemic.
People 65 and older did not have a statistically significant change in 2022 when compared to the years before.
Latinx and white adults both saw a statistically significant increase in food insecurity from 2020 to 2021. No other racial group saw a comparably significant change when compared to the years before.
The backstory: CHIS data has been used in dozens of initiatives including a 2021 Food4All campaign, The California Health Benefits Review Program, and even an amicus brief filed before the U.S. Supreme Court, according to UCLA.
What's next: You can look ahead to the preliminary data for 2023.
Go deeper ... to learn more about the 2021 mental health data.
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