Prof. Miller Leads Study Linking SNAP Program to Better Participant Health
According to the Stanford University Press, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has lifted more Americans out of poverty than any other means-tested program. However, too little is understood about the far-reaching effects of the program beyond food security. To better understand the unintended ramifications of SNAP, BU School of Social Work Professor Dan Miller led a recent study with American University Professor Taryn Morrisey investigating SNAP’s effect on participants’ health and healthcare. “Evidence about the program’s impacts is essential for developing a more complete understanding of the social safety net,” say the authors. “This evidence is especially significant in light of recent legislative proposals that would result in major changes to SNAP.”
Using the Great Recession to Understand SNAP’s Impact on COVID-19
“Among the many hardships wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a stunning increase in food insecurity in U.S. households,” say the authors. “SNAP participation increased from roughly 37 million in March 2020 – a rate that had been more or less constant for the prior year – to a high of 43 million in June, where it has remained relatively constant into 2021.”
The study, “SNAP Participation and the Health and Health Care Utilization of Low-Income Adults and Children,” sampled SNAP participants between 2008 and 2013. This time period, commonly known as the Great Recession, mirrored the current economic crisis from COVID-19 in policy changes and high unemployment that led to historic rates of SNAP enrollment. Encouragingly, the results of their study show that, while there are some areas for improvement in the SNAP program, there is clear evidence that SNAP improves the health of low-income Americans.
Better Health for Low-Income Americans
Overall, Miller and Morrisey’s study links SNAP participation with better health: “We found that each additional month of SNAP participation increased the probability of very good or excellent health for adults.” One revelation explored families’ financial access to health care. “Although greater use of health care typically indicates poor health, the additional resources in the household provided by SNAP may allow families to purchase medical or preventive care they would otherwise delay or forego due to cost.”
By freeing up household funds, SNAP also led to lower odds that a child or adult who needed dental care or eyeglasses had to go without. “Among children, addressing oral health and vision needs is particularly important, given the effects of dental and vision problems on school attendance and academic outcomes.”
SNAP Areas for Improvement
While SNAP’s positive effect on participant health is significant enough to highlight the merits of the program, the authors also uncovered several concerns for future scrutiny. First, a small but significant percentage of child SNAP participants reported poorer mental or behavioral health in line with the number of months spent in the program.
“The reason behind these negative predicted effects is not immediately clear, but may reflect increased stigma attached to program participation,” the authors explain. “Or, it is possible that these results reflect persistent poverty, which is more strongly associated with children’s externalizing problems than intermittent poverty.”
In addition, SNAP participants who needed prescription medication were less likely to be able to afford them. “It may be that the increases in mental or behavioral health problems led to an increased need for medication,” the authors hypothesize. “Alternatively, it is possible that greater access to dental or vision care afforded by SNAP participation resulted in additional diagnoses and need for medical care that were difficult to fund for SNAP recipients.”
Miller and Morrisey stress that these negative effects are opportunities to improve SNAP rather than reasons to dismiss the program: “Whatever their cause, increases in psychological distress and behavior problems are problematic, and additional research should explore whether these findings persist in other samples, especially ones collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be necessary to explore targeted programs to help remediate these (or other) negative effects for SNAP recipients.”