DALLAS — Low-income Dallas seniors were seven times more likely to visit a food pantry in the year after becoming Medicare eligible, leading to better food security, according to a new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Authors of the study looked at data from nearly 545 households that visited the Crossroads Community Services food pantry in Dallas, analyzing levels of food insecurity and the number of visits for food assistance in the two years before and two years after an individual’s 65th birthday, when most people become eligible for the federal senior health insurance program.
Researchers suspect that reaching Medicare eligibility may improve access to such services for a number of reasons, including new-found entry to the health care system. The findings could point community organizers toward additional methods for connecting an often overlooked age group to resources as food prices continue to climb with record-breaking inflation.
“We have been working to build this data set locally about how food assistance is associated with health,” said Sandi Pruitt, study leader and associate professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health. “Now we are beginning to understand the scope of the problem and what we need to do to improve the health of this really underserved, vulnerable group.”
In Texas, 9% of seniors were food insecure in 2020 and another 3.5% had very low food security, according to Feeding America’s latest State of Senior Hunger in America report. Food insecurity has been tied to poor health outcomes for seniors, who already experience higher rates of health issues than their younger counterparts.
The transitional time period associated with Medicare eligibility may provide an important opening to make older Texans more willing or able to access food services.
For some people, Medicare is the first health insurance they’ve ever had. That is especially true in Texas, which has the highest uninsured rate of any state.
“Having access to health care for the first time may give them an opportunity to interact with people in the health care system, like counselors, social workers, even physicians who are becoming more aware of the issue of food security and connecting people to resources over time,” Pruitt said.
As people age and retire from full-time work, they could have more time to access public services. They may also feel less worried about the stigma associated with visiting a food pantry.
Visiting food pantries repeatedly can help people exit the cycle of food insecurity, but people are often reluctant to visit too frequently, said study co-author Tammy Leonard, associate professor and chair of economics at the University of Dallas.
“Oftentimes, people don’t reach out for help until the situation is desperate because they are trying very hard to make it without that extra assistance,” she said. “Which can be noble, but it can also be punishing.”
Increasing touchpoints through other services people are already using, such as Medicare or Social Security, could make individuals feel more comfortable with using a food pantry, said co-author Erline Martinez-Miller, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at UT Southwestern.
Already, Crossroads partners with educational and medical institutions in Dallas County to address a host of social and economic problems that affect food insecurity. The food pantry saw nearly 78,000 visits in 2021 and distributed more than 11 million pounds of food.
Food insecurity is a problem that doesn’t have to exist, said Cynthia Thompson, vice president of development and communications at Crossroads.
“If we have that much food to be able to source and redistribute, that means there’s food available,” she said. “No one should be food insecure, yet it happens every day.”
What researchers don’t understand yet is why, after peaking in the year after an individual turned 65, the visits steadily slowed. It’s possible that people become less able to access food pantry services because of health issues as they age, the researchers said.
This study is hopefully the beginning of other projects that will increase use of resources like Crossroads, Leonard said.
“We’re trying to unearth these mechanisms a little more clearly and then work with folks like Crossroads who can put those into action in all kinds of small and immediate ways to really help people,” she said.
———
