House Plan on Food Stamps Would Cut 5 Million From Program WASHINGTON - Nearly half a million people who receive food stamps but still do not get enough to eat would lose their eligibility for the program under proposed cuts that are expected to be taken up again by Congress. An additional 160,000 to 305,000 recipients who do get enough to eat would also lose their eligibility and the ability to adequately feed themselves. In total, about 5.1 million people would be eliminated from the program, according to a new report. The Health Impact Project, a Washington research group, released a study on Tuesday about the impact of the proposed cuts to the food stamp program. The project is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The report said the cuts to the program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would not only affect the ability of low-income households to feed themselves but would also increase poverty. The combination of poverty and a lack of food would lead to increases in illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure among adults, the study found. In children, the cuts would lead to higher rates of asthma and depression. Diabetes alone could increase federal and state health care costs by nearly $15 billion over the next 10 years, the report found. "The SNAP program has implications for health, and we wanted to make sure that health is part of the debate," said Dr. Aaron Wernham, the director of the project. There is a large body of public health research which shows how food insecurity affects health. The report comes as Congress is working to pass a new farm bill. A Senate bill passed in May would cut about $4.5 billion from the food stamp program, mainly by changing the eligibility requirements. A House farm bill with $20.5 billion in cuts to food stamps failed to pass in June. The House then approved a farm bill this month that for the first time since 1973 did not include the food stamp program. Lawmakers said they would take up a separate bill on food stamps, but they did not give a timetable. The $20.5 billion in cuts is expected to be the starting point for a new measure, and the Health Impact Project used that amount as the basis for its study. The food stamp program has become a target for conservatives in Congress as it has grown over the past decade. Nearly 48 million people currently receive food stamp benefits, and the program costs about $80 billion a year. Many Republicans say the program is rife with fraud, with hundreds of ineligible people receiving benefits. The Agriculture Department says that fraud rates are low and that the people who receive the benefits need them because of a tough economy. "These are the poorest of the poor," said Kevin Concannon, under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the Agriculture Department. In many cases, these are people who are working who just can't make ends meet. People like Christine Tucker, 46, a mother of four in Queens. Ms. Tucker, who was born in Jamaica and works as a health aide, said she began receiving food stamps in April. "It's a big help," she said. If it goes, I don't know what is going to happen. After paying rent and other bills, there is often nothing left for food. Dr. Wernham said people like Ms. Tucker were typical of many food stamp recipients. "It's a trade-off between paying for rent, medicine or food," he said. Policy makers need to understand what the health impacts are going to be if they make the kinds of changes they are considering to the SNAP program.