Evaluation of Alternatives to Improve Elderly Access to SNAP

Project Highlights

Older adults eligible for SNAP

faced complex challenges. Many study respondents had recently experienced one or more life crises—often major health difficulties—that compromised their ability to work and to afford or access food. Increasing access to SNAP is an important strategy to improve health and quality of life for a vulnerable group in great need of assistance.

Combined applications

simplify the SNAP application and benefits process by allowing the elderly and people with disabilities who are applying for Supplemental Security Income to simultaneously apply for SNAP, thereby reducing the administrative burden on both SNAP recipients and program staff. This increased SNAP enrollment.

Evidence-based policy

can help.

Based on the key findings, the research team recommended changing several aspects of program administration, creating additional pilots, and making the combined application standard across all states.

“
Increasing access to SNAP is an important strategy to improve health and quality of life for a vulnerable group in great need of assistance."

Evaluation of Alternatives to Improve Elderly Access to SNAPProject Report

Only a third of the eligible population 60 years of age or older participates in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—the largest of the domestic federal nutrition assistance programs. Several demonstration projects and opportunities to waive federal regulations have been created to improve access to SNAP among older Americans.

The US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) engaged SPR to evaluate how some of these interventions are implemented and their potential effects. The project sought to identify key barriers to older adults’ participation in SNAP, learn about the individual or aggregate effects of specific policies or other interventions, and determine which interventions hold the most promise for increasing older adults’ participation in SNAP.

To accomplish these goals, the evaluation documented the design and implementation of key interventions intended to increase elderly access to SNAP, assessed the elder SNAP participant experience through interviews and focus groups, and analyzed the effects of different state interventions.