The Impact of the 2013 SNAP Reduction on Service-Disabled Veterans

• In Event: Access and Obstacles: Policy in Practice for Individuals with Disabilities

Abstract

There is a growing literature measuring veterans’ reliance on public benefit programs available to the general civilian population, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as well as increasingly large average benefits in VA Disability Compensation (VADC). However, much less focus has been on why rates of program participation systematically vary across veterans and non-veterans, including whether there are unique barriers facing veterans or programmatic interactions between VADC and non-VA programs that reduce veterans’ receipt of benefits. One particularly lacking element in existing analyses is a panel approach to understanding veterans’ participation in social safety net programs that have relatively high rates of exit and re-entry, including SNAP, SSI, and Medicaid. Our research leverages the late-2013 reduction in stimulus-era SNAP benefits and cross-state variation in SNAP take-up to estimate how benefit reductions differentially impact veterans and non-veterans. This analysis will be the first to provide causal evidence of how an unprecedented SNAP benefit cut differentially affected veterans' overall household income, employment, and other program participation, as well as which veterans (by age, disability status, and sex) are most likely to be affected by reduced social safety net benefits.

Authors

• Philip Armour, RAND School of Public Policy
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Catria Gadwah-Meaden, RAND School of Public Policy
  Presenting Author

• LeeAnn Stevens, RAND School of Public Policy
  Non-Presenting Co-Author