Unlocking the Front Door: Reducing Compliance Costs and Improving SNAP Retention through Pre-Population

• In Event: Automation, AI and Nudges: Improving Digital Interfaces to Reduce Administrative Burdens in the Safety Net

Abstract

Policymakers have shown an increasing willingness to reduce administrative burdens that are impeding access to critical social safety net programs. One commonly proposed tool, which was highlighted in a recent Presidential Executive Order,  involves pre-filling forms for applicants with existing administrative data. We test the effectiveness of “pre-filled forms” as a technical instrument to reduce compliance costs and administrative burdens. We study the effect of pre-populating eligibility renewal forms when beneficiaries clients' recertify their eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As many as one-third of beneficiaries lose coverage during recertification, often due to their failure to navigate administrative procedures. Using a field experiment involving over 20,000 cases over seven counties in California, we find that being offered the chance to use a webform pre-filled with information from their initial application increases the chance that clients submit the form by 11 percent. Our analysis shows that, in our case, the effects of pre-filling are concentrated at the initial stages of the application, where applicants authenticate their status by providing personal information and case number. Using linked administrative enrollment data, we also identify the intervention’s effect on program retention. We find that the boost to submissions does not carry through to enrollment. The results point to the promise of reducing churn off programs at the recertification stage by making administrative data that the client previously provided easily accessible to them, and paying particular attention to early stages of the process.

Authors

• Matthew Unrath, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Pamela Herd, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Donald Moynihan, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Co-Author