Kelly Savage-Radich, a mother-of-three who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, says her family may have to sell one of its vehicles as the cost of gas climbs and her grocery bill rises by about $100 (£75) a week.

The Ohio mum, who has two daughters and lives in a Dayton suburb in Montgomery County, blames the Trump administration for the squeeze. She plans to vote Democrat 'all the way down, for everything', because 'I want it not to be this way'.

A study of an earlier cut to emergency food aid found hospital admissions rose significantly among low-income adults. The findings add a health cost to the pressure on household food budgets.

Food Cuts Linked to Hospital Stays

The study used 2021-22 Medicaid claims data to compare six states that ended pandemic-era emergency SNAP allotments early with eight states that kept them. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, serves more than 40 million people.

The study covered 5.59 million adults in the early-ending states and 9.15 million in the others. Over the study period, 16.9% and 16.1% respectively were admitted to hospital at least once.

Compared with other states, all-cause hospitalisations in early-ending states rose significantly from the fourth quarter, by 852.5 per 100,000 Medicaid enrolees. The rise reached 1,310.1 in the fifth quarter, while all-cause mortality did not change significantly.

The rise might be driven by declining diet quality, which can worsen diet-sensitive conditions, and by financial strain that forces trade-offs between food and healthcare, the researchers said. Unmeasured factors could still have skewed the results.

The findings held across sensitivity checks that used looser Medicaid enrolment rules. They suggest the cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which took $187 billion (£140 billion) from SNAP over 10 years, could raise preventable hospitalisations among low-income adults.

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Food Costs Squeeze Ohio Families

The cuts come as food costs climb. Amy K. Matsui, vice president for child care and income security at the National Women's Law Center, said food prices are 'skyrocketing' and food banks 'can't keep up with demand'.

Nationally, 5 million Americans, including 100,000 Ohioans, had lost food assistance by June 2026. The law also cut nearly $1 trillion (£750 billion) from Medicaid over the same 10-year period, reducing the coverage that helps pay for medical care.

Phil Plummer, chair of the Montgomery County Republican Party and a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, said candidates hear about affordability, but 'we didn't create that, the Democrats did'. He also said the war on Iran 'hasn't helped' oil prices.

Coverage Losses Deepen the Strain

Health coverage is also shrinking for Ohioans. By February 2026, 2.6 million Americans, about 10% of enrolees, had dropped Affordable Care Act coverage after pandemic-era subsidies expired. Ohio saw the biggest loss of any state, at 32.4%, or 161,000 people.

Patrick Kearns, executive director of Source Cleveland, said a 60-year-old refugee woman was due to lose Medicaid coverage from October 1. She has chronic conditions that require regular doctor visits and medication.

Her adult children work entry-level jobs and cannot pay for her care on their own. State and local officials warned about upcoming changes to Medicaid eligibility.

The US Department of Agriculture announced in 2025 that it was ending its Household Food Security Reports, less than three months after the SNAP cuts. The Census Bureau said the release date for its 2025 American Community Survey estimates is being determined.

A key poverty dataset has been put on indefinite hold, Matsui said. It is the source of state-level and demographic data on poverty and income.

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