Edwards: WIC-Medicaid partnership creates healthier children

Children’s health and nutrition are inextricably linked. As a pediatrician, I care for many infants and young children who are food insecure and whose lack of access to adequate nutrition would contribute to a lifetime of health problems were it not for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC.

Pediatricians who practiced prior to the 1990s will remember the malnourished toddlers whose parents couldn’t afford formula and gave them excessive amounts of whole milk instead, causing profound iron-deficiency anemia and subsequent developmental delays. Iron is required for the appropriate metabolism of many neurotransmitters in the brain, and children with extreme deficiencies went on to have problems with language, behavior and coordination.

Federal child nutrition programs play a critical role in ensuring all children receive the nutrition they need to be healthy. In particular, WIC has been serving nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children for more than 40 years. In South Carolina, more than 124,000 women, infants and children are enrolled in the program, which has helped combat food insecurity and improve children’s access to health care and immunizations.

Since 1989, women and children who qualify for Medicaid have been automatically eligible for WIC. This process, called “adjunctive eligibility,” saves paperwork and administrative costs, while helping to ensure access to critical nutrition services and breastfeeding support for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

As Congress prepares to reauthorize federal child nutrition programs, one proposal being considered threatens to delink WIC eligibility from Medicaid eligibility. Delinking Medicaid and WIC puts untold numbers of women and children at risk for food insecurity and preventable health problems, and it raises the administrative costs of signing up families for both programs.

As an active member of Eat Smart Move More York County, whose mission is to make the healthy choice the easy choice, I know that children who develop healthy eating habits early on grow up to be much healthier adults, saving health-care costs for generations to come.

I urge Rep. Joe Wilson, who serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee, to keep WIC strong by maintaining adjunctive eligibility. Doing so allows South Carolina’s women and children to continue accessing the services, supports and nutrients they need to stay healthy.

Rock Hill

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 7:10 PM.