Federal Shutdown Threatens Food Security for Direct Care Workers
Now in its fourth week, the federal government shutdown is threatening to interrupt a critical public service. The Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that the agency will stop issuing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits effective November 1, despite the availability of reserve funds. SNAP provides small subsidies to help eligible families afford groceries. Halting this program puts food assistance for millions of Americans and their families—including hundreds of thousands of the nation’s essential direct care workers, and a significant percentage of the people they provide essential care for—at unacceptable risk.
Direct care workers provide vital daily support to older Americans, people with disabilities, and people with chronic conditions across all long-term care settings. By volume, they represent the fastest-growing occupational group in the country. Yet, their essential jobs are characterized by low wages and in many cases, limited work hours. This results in profound economic instability: More than one-third of direct care workers live in poverty, and nearly half rely on some form of public assistance to make ends meet.
SNAP is a crucial lifeline for this workforce. According to a PHI analysis of 2023 American Community Survey data, 850,391 direct care workers in the U.S. received SNAP benefits last year, translating to 26 percent of the entire workforce. A separate PHI analysis of 2021–2025 data shows that direct care workers receiving SNAP benefits received a median of $2,640 per year—assistance that is critical for purchasing groceries for themselves and their families amid rising food costs.
It is important to note that SNAP is also a lifeline for many of the people receiving care from direct care workers. According to a KFF analysis, nearly one in four people covered by Medicaid also receive SNAP benefits.
The Administration’s decision to pause SNAP benefits during the federal shutdown is compounded by another cruel policy change from the federal Administration that will cut $186 billion from the program and restrict access for those who need it most. Over the next year, the President’s budget reconciliation act (OBBBA) will deeply cut into the SNAP program. These changes will shift costs to states, severely restricting benefits and requiring those receiving food assistance to meet onerous reporting requirements, which are also going into effect November 1st. Millions will lose access to desperately needed help buying groceries.
“The potential suspension of SNAP benefits for direct care workers—and for so many who rely on them for care and support—is unconscionable,” said PHI’s President and CEO, Jodi M. Sturgeon. “The workers we depend on for care—and the older adults and people with disabilities they support—deserve better.”
No one should go hungry in America. PHI calls on the Administration and Congress to act immediately to ensure that access to SNAP remains available and uninterrupted for all who need it. We also call on them to reverse cuts to Medicaid and other health programs that millions of Americans, including direct care workers and their families, depend on. Ensuring that direct care workers and all working families have affordable access to health care and food to eat is a policy choice—one that should not be hard to make.
