
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990                   TAG: 9006040187
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WIC PROGRAM

WELFARE programs have their share of waste, but there's one that returns solid cost benefits. It's the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children - WIC for short - and it's in financial trouble.

The U.S. government provides WIC aid through the states: $2.1 billion worth this year. This amount anticipated a 4 percent increase in food prices, particularly for the milk, orange juice, cereal and infant formula that make up most of the WIC food package.

Because of such factors as the citrus crop freeze in Florida and the 1988 grain-belt drought, the actual price increase was 8 percent during the past eight months. To cope with the shortfall, at least half the states have reduced WIC allotments or stopped them outright for thousands of clients.

That's pennywise and pound-foolish. The states ought instead to be putting more of their own funds into the program and lobbying Congress for a supplemental appropriation for WIC.

Study after study shows that WIC saves lives and improves the health of women and children. It helps keep women robust through their pregnancies. It reduces infant mortality by increasing birth weight. It bolsters nutrition during the critical early months of infancy when deprivation can dull brains and slow physical development. It prevents illnesses and saves governments money they would have to spend later on treating indigents.

An outlay of $2.1 billion is small, considering not only WIC's preventive effects but also the fact that it reaches 4.5 million expectant and new mothers and young children. That includes nearly one-third of all babies born in the United States. That's a lot of humanity representing a big slice of the future.

Virginia's luckier than many. Paul Matthias, who directs WIC in the commonwealth, says the state has tightened eligibility requirements since May 1 by refusing aid in what he termed some lower-risk cases. Out of nearly 90,000 women, infants and children served by the program in this state, the cuts are said to affect only a few hundred clients. For comparison, Missouri's cutbacks will affect 14,000, Oklahoma's 15,000, New York state's 20,000.

The program's importance in Southwest Virginia is reflected in the numbers: as of April, 19,929 clients in this end of the state. Roanoke alone had 1,960.

Virginia is not among the states that put some of their own money into the program. But it's not as though these states have been negligent. WIC buys a third of all infant formula sold in this country, and many states have used that leverage to get competitive bids and volume discounts. Unfortunately, food-price increases have offset those savings.

Still, it is self-defeating to stretch WIC dollars by reducing the program's reach. Trying to identify which women, infants and children are at low risk of malnutrition is itself risky. The potential harm can outweigh the benefits. Better to save money tomorrow by spending a little more today.

by CNB