Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Boston, MA, USA.
Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Public Health Nutr. 2024 Sep 27;27(1):e186. doi: 10.1017/S1368980024001447.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent policy response to mitigate disease spread had far-reaching impacts on health and social well-being. In response, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) underwent several pandemic-era modifications, including a 15 % monthly benefit increase on January 1, 2021. Research documenting the health effects of these SNAP modifications among low-income households and minoritized groups who were most impacted by the economic fallout during the first years of the pandemic is lacking. We aimed to estimate the health effects of the 15 % SNAP benefit increase in January 2021, among SNAP-eligible US households.
We estimated the effects of the SNAP increase on food insufficiency, mental health, and financial well-being using a rigorous quasi-experimental difference-in-differences (DID) analysis.
August 19, 2020, to March 29, 2021.
Participants were drawn from the national US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey waves 13-27 ( 44 477).
Compared with SNAP-eligible non-recipients, SNAP-eligible recipients experienced decreased food insufficiency (-1·9 percentage points (pp); 95 % CI -3·7, -0·1) and anxiety symptoms (-0·09; 95 % CI -0·17, -0·01), and less difficulty paying for other household expenses (-3·2 pp; 95 % CI -4·9, -1·5) after the SNAP benefit increase. Results were robust to alternative specifications.
Expansions of federal nutrition programmes have the potential to improve health and financial well-being. This study provides timely evidence to inform comprehensive safety net nutrition policies during future economic crises and public health preparedness response plans.
新冠疫情及随后为减轻疾病传播而采取的政策应对措施对健康和社会福祉产生了深远影响。作为回应，补充营养援助计划（SNAP）在疫情期间经历了多次调整，包括 2021 年 1 月 1 日起每月福利增加 15%。目前缺乏关于这些 SNAP 调整对受疫情经济影响最大的低收入家庭和少数族裔群体的健康影响的研究。我们旨在评估 2021 年 1 月 SNAP 福利增加 15%对符合条件的美国家庭的健康影响。
我们使用严格的准实验差分（DID）分析来估计 SNAP 增加对食品不足、心理健康和财务状况的影响。
2020 年 8 月 19 日至 2021 年 3 月 29 日。
参与者来自美国全国人口普查局家庭脉搏调查第 13-27 波（44477 人）。
与 SNAP 合格的非受助者相比，SNAP 合格的受助者在 SNAP 福利增加后，食品不足（-1.9 个百分点（pp）；95%CI-3.7，-0.1）和焦虑症状（-0.09；95%CI-0.17，-0.01）减少，以及支付其他家庭开支的困难程度降低（-3.2pp；95%CI-4.9，-1.5）。结果在替代规范下具有稳健性。
扩大联邦营养计划有可能改善健康和财务状况。本研究为未来经济危机期间全面安全网营养政策和公共卫生准备应对计划提供了及时的证据。
