Low blood sugar is a condition that is associated with diabetic episodes. But anyone that is not diabetic can experince low blood sugar if their diet lacks sufficient calories.
Now one way to ensure people do not experince this potentially fatal condion is to ensure adequate food is available.
But Republicans have other plans. You see, people that are not starving and desperate get picky. How do they get picky?, you may ask. Well, they tend to complain about unsafe work conditions, corporate legal violations, unfair wage and termination practices, and an entire slew of other reasons related to keeping the poor pinned to the mat by the corporate gorilla.
So republicans cut Food Stamps again, and again, and again.
Ostensibly to save the Federal Government money.
But is it saving money?
Nope
Why?
http://mobile.nytimes.com/...=
Poor people with diabetes are significantly more likely to go to the hospital for dangerously low blood sugar at the end of the month when food budgets are tight than at the beginning of the month, a new study has found.
Researchers found no increase in such hospitalizations among higher-income people for the condition known as hypoglycemia, suggesting that poverty and exhausted food budgets may be a reason for the increased health risk.
Hypoglycemia occurs when people with diabetes have not had enough to eat, but continue taking medications for the disease. To control diabetes, patients need to keep their blood sugar within a narrow band. Levels that are too low or too high (known as hyperglycemia) can be dangerous.
Researchers found a clear pattern among low-income people: Hospital admissions for hypoglycemia were 27 percent higher at the end of the month than at the beginning. Researchers said they could not prove that the patients’ economic circumstances were the reason for the admission, but the two things were highly correlated.
ER visits are expensive, thats why. At at least three hundred dollars a pop, minimum, ER visits costs exceed the average monthly Food Stamp benifit by 50% or more- And that is just comparing the cost of the cheapest ER visit. Now if hypoglycemic patients are hospitalized then tens of thousands of dollars are spent.
So cutting Food Stamps is an unwise budget action.
If the goal is saving money.