In the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), families may temporarily lose benefits for which they are still eligible because of administrative issues. This lapse in benefits, referred to as churning, increases the risk of food insecurity for families, which is linked with poorer health. This study examined the rate of churning among SNAP participants with young children and evaluated the association of administrative policy changes with churning risk. In this cross-sectional study of 70 799 Massachusetts SNAP participants with young children, 40.9% of participants experienced benefit losses that lasted up to 30 days because of administrative reasons, including missed deadlines for submitting recertification forms, completing certification interviews, or providing eligibility verifications. Policies that simplified caseworker assignments and reduced the burden of interim eligibility reporting requirements were associated with significant decreases in churning.
Published: September 2022
ID #: CAS063
Journal: JAMA Netw Open
Authors: Kenney EL, Soto MJ, Fubini M, Carleton A, Lee M, Bleich SN
Age Groups: Adults and Families, Pregnant women, infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 2), Preschool-age children (ages 3 to 5)
Resource Type: Journal Article
State: Massachusetts
Focus Area: Nutrition Policy & Programs
Related Research
July 2020
Understanding and Reducing ‘Churning’ among SNAP Households with Young Children
The goal of this project is to use administrative SNAP data from Massachusetts (MA) to identify the prevalence and risk factors for churning among households with children aged 0 to 5 years (n=203,000) and the impact of recent administrative policy changes on churning in this population. In collaboration with Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) in MoreApril 2024
Mixed methods evaluation of the COVID-19 changes to the WIC cash-value benefit for fruits and vegetables
Recent cash-value benefit (CVB) increases are a positive development to help increase WIC participant fruits and vegetables (FV) access. This mixed method study aimed to evaluate (a) the CVB changes’ impact on FV access among WIC child participants measured by CVB redemption rates, (b) facilitators and barriers to CVB changes’ implementation, and (c) differences in MoreMarch 2024