What Impact Does Social Security Have on the Use of Public Assistance Programs Among the Elderly?

Coe, Norma B.; Wu, April Yanyuan

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2440759

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…If welcome mat effects occur for older low‐income adults, this could have important implications for federal and state governments as well as individual enrollees. Studies from the pre‐ACA era suggest that at least half of those eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid do not enroll in Medicaid (Pezzin & Kasper, 2002; Ungaro & Federman, 2009), which is consistent with older Americans’ low take‐up of means‐tested federal programs in general (Coe & Wu, 2014). Further, dual‐eligible adults enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid have more serious health problems than the average beneficiary and account for disproportionately higher shares of Medicare and Medicaid spending (Jacobson, Neuman, & Damico, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Welcome Mats and On‐Ramps for Older Adults: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions on Dual Enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid

McInerney¹,

Mellor²,

Sabik³

2020

J Policy Anal Manage

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For many low‐income Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid provides important supplemental insurance that covers out‐of‐pocket costs and additional benefits. We examine whether Medicaid participation by low‐income adults age 65 and up increased as a result of Medicaid expansions to working‐age adults under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Previous literature documents so‐called “welcome mat” effects in other populations but has not explicitly studied older persons dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. We extend this literature by estimating models of Medicaid participation among persons age 65 and up using American Community Survey data from 2010 to 2017 and state variation in ACA Medicaid expansions. We find that Medicaid expansions to working‐age adults increased Medicaid participation among low‐income older adults by 1.8 percentage points (4.4 percent). We also find evidence of an “on‐ramp” effect; that is, low‐income Medicare beneficiaries residing in expansion states who were young enough to gain coverage under the 2014 ACA Medicaid expansions before aging into Medicare were 4 percentage points (9.5 percent) more likely to have dual Medicaid coverage relative to similar individuals who either turned 65 before the 2014 expansions or resided in non‐expansion states. This on‐ramp effect is an important mechanism behind welcome mat effects among some older adults.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Welcome Mats and On‐Ramps for Older Adults: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions on Dual Enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid

McInerney¹,

Mellor²,

Sabik³

2020

J Policy Anal Manage

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“…Second, the existing literature suggests that asset variables in the SIPP suffer from measurement error (Strand, Rupp, and Davies 2009). Finally, the literature also suggests that income limits are much more likely to be binding than asset limits (e.g., Coe and Wu 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

How Do the Disabled Cope While Waiting for SSDI?

et al. 2013

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The wait time for a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) award varies from a few months to a several years. Little is known about how applicants fund their consumption during this waiting time, while they receive no income support or medical benefits from the SSDI program. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) linked to the Social Security Administration's 831 file, this paper is the first to identify the causal effect of a longer waiting time on the use of these coping strategies using an instrumental variable (IV) approach.We find that applicants react to a longer waiting time by using benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) more frequently. They are also less likely to change their address and to receive Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. Moreover, when comparing IV to OLS, our results also indicate that while applicants' spouses do not increase their employment due to an exogenous increase in the waiting time, an increase in their employment leads to a longer waiting time for applicants, presumably because applicants with a working spouse are more likely to appeal an initial denial. Together, these results suggest that coping strategies both help applicants to cope with the waiting time and to extend the waiting time to increase their chances of getting into the program.1

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“…In 2019, the maximum SSI payout was $771/month for individuals and $1,157 for couples with 7.97 million individuals receiving federal SSI benefits of, on average, $549/month (SSA, 2019a). Work on uptake of SNAP and SSI among the elderly suggests that cash benefits, such as those available through SSI, may be worth more than in-kind transfers, such as the SNAP, further increasing the relative benefits of SSI versus SNAP alone (Coe and Wu, 2014). SSI recipients also qualify for Medicaid immediately in most states and almost all SSI recipients qualify for SNAP.…”

Section: Institutional Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of work requirements for food assistance eligibility on disability claiming

Stith

2022

IZA Journal of Labor Economics

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Between 2010 and 2017, 42 U.S. states added work requirements as a food assistance eligibility criterion for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs). Another U.S. public assistance program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), provides food assistance without a work requirement, along with cash transfers and health insurance. Therefore, individuals for whom working is difficult may be induced to opt out of the labor force and into SSI in order to maintain access to food assistance. This study is the first to examine whether work requirements associated with food assistance eligibility lead to an increase in SSI applications and receipts. Based on difference-in-differences and event study analyses of comprehensive administrative claims data from the Social Security Administration and survey data from the Current Population Survey, this study finds evidence of lagged effects on SSI applications overall, and reduced Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) receipts followed by a delayed smaller increase in SSI receipts among individuals with self-reported disabilities. While most SSI applications induced by SNAP-related work requirements appear to be unsuccessful, a small, vulnerable population may move out of the workforce and into SSI in response to the implementation of work requirements.

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What Impact Does Social Security Have on the Use of Public Assistance Programs Among the Elderly?

Abstract: Low take-up by the elderly in most federal programs targeted to low-income Americans is a persistent and puzzling phenomenon. This paper seeks to measure how much the benefit levels provided by public assistance programs affect elderly enrollment in two-means tested programs:

Cited by 3 publications

References 27 publications

Welcome Mats and On‐Ramps for Older Adults: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions on Dual Enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid

Welcome Mats and On‐Ramps for Older Adults: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions on Dual Enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid

How Do the Disabled Cope While Waiting for SSDI?

Effects of work requirements for food assistance eligibility on disability claiming

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