President Donald Trump wants to change how the federal government calculates the official poverty line, a vague proposal that’s raising fears among advocates for low-income people in Hawaiʻi that fewer people might be eligible for key public programs like food stamps and Medicaid.

It’s a subtle difference with big implications. National advocacy groups for low-income people say the change would effectively mean one million fewer people will be eligible for federal benefit programs over the next decade. Bloomberg reported, “The possible change appears to be the latest effort by the Trump Administration to make it harder to access welfare programs.”

Already, many Hawaiʻi residents who are struggling aren’t eligible for food stamps and other programs because their income falls above the threshold, which doesn’t take into account Hawaiʻi’s cost of living.

“It’s a way of reducing services for low income people without actually cutting the programs directly,” Nicole Woo, a lobbyist at the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, said about the proposed change.

The nonprofit, which advocates on behalf of low-income people, submitted comments raising concerns about the proposal. Woo believes the local impacts will be significant.

“Especially in Hawaiʻi it makes no sense because it seems pretty clear that the official poverty level in Hawaiʻi doesn’t reflect how people are faring here,” she said.