Article
Agricultural Economics & Policy
Craig Gundersen
Summary: This study compares the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) with a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program, finding that increasing benefit amount and expanding eligibility can significantly reduce food insecurity, resulting in higher cost-effectiveness.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Joel M. Cuffey, Bhagyashree Katare, Laura McMahon Fulford
Summary: This study investigates the impact of implementing work requirements for SNAP on emergency food assistance usage. The results show that the introduction of the work requirement increased the number of households served by food pantries, particularly in urban areas. Therefore, work requirements for SNAP increase the burden on emergency food assistance programs.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Laura J. Samuel, Deidra C. Crews, Bonnielin K. Swenor, Jiafeng Zhu, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Sarah L. Szanton, Boeun Kim, Pallavi Dwivedi, Qiwei Li, Nicholas S. Reed, Roland J. Thorpe
Summary: Racial disparities in food insecurity were found among low-income households that do not participate in SNAP but not among those that do, suggesting that access to SNAP should be improved. These results also highlight the need to examine the structural and systemic racism in food systems and in access to food assistance that may contribute to disparities.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Matthew Lavallee, Sandro Galea, Nadia N. Abuelezam
Summary: This study aimed to understand the impact of Nebraska's decision to reject emergency allotments on food security and hospital capacity indicators. The findings revealed that this decision was associated with increased food insecurity, hospitalizations for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 causes, and higher hospital bed occupancy rates.
Review
Pediatrics
Jerold Mande, Grace Flaherty
Summary: In 2020, obesity prevalence among US children reached 19.7%, while food insecurity among children decreased or remained stable over the past decade at 6.2% of US households with children in 2021. Research shows that children participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have poorer dietary quality and higher disease risk compared to nonparticipants. However, other federal food assistance programs, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), have shown positive impacts on dietary quality and health outcomes.
CURRENT OPINION IN PEDIATRICS
(2023)
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Sarah Moreland Russell, Jason Jabbari, Louise Farah Saliba, Dan Ferris, Eliot Jost, Tyler Frank, Yung Chun
Summary: This study examines the impact of the USDA's flexibilities on Missouri school food services and the implementation decision-making process. It found that most schools implemented the policies and it led to an increase in the number of meals served per month, particularly for low-income students. These findings can inform future policy design and implementation.
Article
Pediatrics
Susan You, Rosemary Ansah, Alexa Mullins, Sara B. Johnson, Jamie Perin, Sarah J. Flessa, Rachel L. J. Thornton
Summary: The study found relatively limited cyclic variations in the home food environment among families participating in SNAP, with caregivers employing various intentional strategies to address food scarcity. Further research should evaluate the relationship between changes in the home food environment and child health outcomes.
Article
Nutrition & Dietetics
Dan Ferris, Jason Jabbari, Yung Chun, J. S. Onesimo Sandoval
Summary: This study examines the adoption of the CEP and BATB policies at the statewide school level and estimates their impact on increasing free and reduced-price breakfast participation. The findings show that schools that utilize both CEP and BATB experience a 14-percentage-point increase in breakfast participation, and CEP-participating schools are more likely to use BATB approaches such as breakfast in the classroom, grab-and-go carts, and second-chance breakfast. Additionally, the study finds that the adoption of BATB policy leads to a 1.4-percentage-point increase in free breakfasts served.
Article
Agricultural Economics & Policy
Kyle Jones, Andrea Leschewski, Jordan Jones, Grace Melo
Summary: Mandated under the 2014 Farm Bill, the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot (OPP) was initially designed to test the feasibility of allowing online SNAP benefit redemption for groceries. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OPP was rapidly expanded to address food access barriers among low-income households. The study found that the rapid expansion of OPP reduced food insufficiency among low-income adults and improved food access barriers, particularly for racial minorities and married individuals.
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Kevin H. Nguyen, Nicole C. Giron, Amal N. Trivedi
Summary: Anti-immigrant public policies and rhetoric may have reduced the enrollment of immigrant children in SNAP, but Medicaid expansion has helped counteract this effect. Participation in SNAP among citizen children from mixed-status families and noncitizen children decreased significantly between 2015-16 and 2017-19. The decline was more pronounced for Hispanic and Latino children from mixed-status families, Hispanic and Latino noncitizen children, and noncitizen children in non-expansion states.
Article
Agricultural Economics & Policy
Wei Fu, Chen Huang, Feng Liu
Summary: This paper examines the effects of unemployment insurance expansions on household food insecurity in the United States. The study finds that increasing state weekly UI benefits can reduce the likelihood and severity of food insecurity among eligible families. Additionally, the research provides strong evidence of program substitution between UI and SNAP, with potential cost savings for SNAP.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Laura J. Samuel, Sarah L. Szanton, Jennifer L. Wolff, Darrell J. Gaskin
Summary: The 2009 SNAP policy change was associated with improved nutrition-sensitive cardiometabolic markers among SNAP-eligible adults, leading to less of an upward trend in hemoglobin A1c levels for young and middle aged adults and decreased total cholesterol for young adults.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Anna E. Austin, Meghan Shanahan, Madeline Frank, H. Luz McNaughton Reyes, Alice Ammerman, Nicole A. Short
Summary: This study found that the adoption of SNAP policies that eliminated asset tests and increased income limits in U.S. states was associated with lower rates of interpersonal violence, particularly intimate partner violence and other relationship violence. The elimination of asset tests without implementing other policies did not show significant differences in rates of interpersonal violence.
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Economics & Policy
Jordan W. Jones, Charles Courtemanche, Augustine Denteh, James Marton, Rusty Tchernis
Summary: The study found that policies designed to expand SNAP eligibility modestly increased participation among seniors but led to larger increases among nonseniors, while there was little evidence of effects of policies related to transaction costs, stigma, or outreach on either group.
APPLIED ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES AND POLICY
(2022)
Article
Pediatrics
Stephen Rogers, Arvin Garg, Yorghos Tripodis, Annelise Brochier, Emily Messmer, Mikayla Gordon Wexler, Alon Peltz
Summary: This study examines the impact of continuous Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment on health care costs for children in low-income households. The results suggest that sustained SNAP enrollment over a two-year period does not generate significant short-term reductions in health care costs for children, despite the demonstrated benefits on child health outcomes. This finding highlights the need for further research to understand the factors influencing health care costs in this population.