Data & Research
This study reports on a project launched in 2010 to pilot and evaluate innovative strategies to reduce SNAP participation barriers for low-income elderly by leveraging new data-sharing requirements related to Medicare assistance programs that help pay for prescription drugs or Medicare premiums. SNAP accesses the medical assistance program data and contacts those individuals that appear SNAP eligible. Grants were awarded to New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Each year, FNS estimates the number of eligible individuals for WIC during an average month of the calendar year. FNS uses estimates of the number of individuals eligible for WIC and the number likely to participate to better predict future funding needs, measure WIC performance, and identify potentially unmet nutrition assistance needs.
This study describes the characteristics, circumstances, and participation and income dynamics of zero-income SNAP households and seeks to assess whether economic and policy changes may have affected this growth.
This report is the latest in a series of annual reports presenting information on national participation rates among people eligible for program benefits. In 2012, SNAP served 83 percent of all eligible individuals, and the program provided 96 percent of the benefits that all eligible individuals could receive.
In 2009, Congress authorized and funded pilot projects to test approaches to facilitate access to SNAP among two underserved populations: the elderly and the working poor. The Michigan and Pennsylvania pilots successfully increased access to SNAP among the elderly. No significant impacts on access were found in the other four states.