Has the Food Stamp program become more accessible? Impacts of recent changes in reporting requirements and asset eligibility limits

Abstract

This paper uses data from the 1996 and 2001 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to assess the impact of recent policy initiatives intended to increase access to Food Stamps. It finds that reductions in state certification requirements increased Food Stamp participation rates of income-eligible families with children by one to two percentage points from 2001 to 2003, a change that is comparable to the impact of changes in economic conditions over this period. It did not find consistent evidence of an impact of relaxing vehicle asset limits, or of offering continuous eligibility through the Semi-Annual|Simplified Reporting option. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

The transformation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

“…13 Analyses using this approach include Gleason et al (2001), Kabbani and Wilde (2003), and Kornfeld (2002). A complementary approach is to use survey data-the CPS (Currie & Grogger, 2001) or the SIPP (Hanratty, 2006;Ratcliffe, McKernan, & Finegold, 2008). The reader should note that we are modeling participation per person.…”

“…First, a growing literature has addressed the role of the economy in SNAP caseload changes and the question of whether SNAP policy changes have increased participation in the program (Currie & Grogger, 2001;Hanratty, 2006;Kabbani & Wilde, 2003;Kornfeld, 2002;Mabli, Martin, & Castner, 2009;Ratcliffe, McKernan, & Finegold, 2008). The core SNAP policies that this literature has considered are reductions in the paperwork burden for participants (in the form of adopting simplified reporting and lengthening recertification periods) and paring down eligibility requirements (by excluding vehicles from the asset test).…”

“…11 Several studies have also assessed whether the switch from AFDC to TANF caused the SSI caseload to rise, finding evidence that it did (Nadel, Wamhoff, & Wiseman, 2003/2004Schmidt & Sevak, 2004;Wamhoff & Wiseman, 2005/2006.…”

Administrative Burden: Learning, Psychological, and Compliance Costs in Citizen-State Interactions

“…States that simplified reporting procedures and required less frequent recertification in SNAP saw an increase in successful claimants (Hanratty 2006;Kabbani and Wilde 2003;Ratcliffe, McKernan, and Finegold 2008). The use of a single form for multiple programs is associated with increased take-up in Medicaid (Leininger et al 2011).…”

Unemployment and household food hardship in the economic recession

“…To reduce food insecurity, food and nutrition assistance programmes could have more flexible eligibility rules that provide assistance after households resume employment, as well as streamline the application, certification and approval process and expedite the delivery of assistance benefits for past beneficiaries whose employment status changes. Loosening food assistance eligibility rules can assist to reduce the social ills and public health problems that accompany unemployment, including food insecurity, and increase participation (45)(46)(47) .…”