Report puts $160 billion price tag on U.S. hunger

Hunger and food insecurity are so widespread in the United States that they add $160 billion to national health-care spending, according to a Christian advocacy group.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said in a report on November 23 that hunger is a key factor in the United States having the worst infant mortality rate among developed countries.

“All the things that we do that allow the infant mortality rate to be so high,” he said, are “in effect killing a hundred thousand babies in communities across this country a year.”