October 27, 2025 Update: The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Saturday that it will not issue food benefits next month during the ongoing government shutdown. The decision means that more than 41 million Americans will not receive benefits, including from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program. On October 24, the White House said it would not use emergency funds to provide food benefits if the shutdown were to continue.

In such households, one parent typically tries to stay in the workforce while the other remains home to care for their children, forcing families to survive on a single income.

The working parent may have access to employer health benefits, but they are often inadequate for medically complex children. As a result, many families also rely on Medicaid waiver programs, which step in to cover what their private insurance does not. Benefits such as SNAP and WIC are an essential complement to these programs for parents who are very skilled at balancing tight budgets.