The Effects of Proposed Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Eligibility, Participation, and Benefits

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, is conducting a health impact assessment (HIA) intended to inform congressional consideration of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) included in the 2013 Farm Bill reauthorization. This issue brief updates and summarizes some of the estimates that Mathematica provided in support of the HIA in the original analysis. It finds that the majority of individuals who would be affected under proposed legislative changes live in poverty, and a substantial percentage are children under age 18, elderly people age 60 or older, or nonelderly disabled individuals.