Colleen Heflin
Professor of Public Information and International Affairs, Syracuse University
Jun Li
Assistant Professor of Public Information and International Affairs, Syracuse University
Background: One of the goals of Healthy People 2020 is to identify and address the social and physical environments that promote good health for all. In 2017, food insecurity was present for 7.7 percent of persons aged 60 and older, or 5.5 million persons (Ziliak & Gundersen, 2019). The consequences of elderly persons’ food insecurity are far-reaching, affecting their health and well-being (Gundersen, Kreider, and Pepper 2011). The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest food and nutrition assistance program in the United States and has been shown to reduce food insecurity. States have the option to adopt the Standard Medical Deduction (SMD), a provision designed to make it easier for older adults to deduct medical expenses from income during the eligibility process which should increase the number of older adults eligible for SNAP as well as the benefit amount for which they qualify. Despite the potential importance of this provision, currently only 21 states adopt the SMD and there are no formal evaluations of its effectiveness.
Aim 1: To explore if and to what extent SNAP outcomes are higher in states that adopt the Standard Medical Deduction.
Aim 2: Because health, out-of-pocket health expenses, and lifetime connections to the SNAP program vary by demographic characteristics, we will document how these effects differ by sex and race/ethnicity.