Thursday, March 13, 2025 3/13/2025

Effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on racial/ethnic and disability-based healthcare disparities

Award Number: R01MD013837
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Project Summary/Abstract This project will examine the impact of losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on healthcare outcomes and healthcare disparities based on race/ethnicity and disability. Racial/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities experience healthcare disparities in the areas of disease prevention and management, unfavorable clinical events, and acute healthcare expenditures. Food insecurity may affect these disparities: food insecure individuals forgo needed care and medications more often, use emergency and inpatient care more often, and require higher expenditures than food secure individuals. Meanwhile, racial/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are 2.2 and 2.8 times as likely to be food insecure as non- minorities and people without disabilities, respectively, face starker tradeoffs between food and resources such as housing, and have greater sensitivity to food insecurity given greater economic and health vulnerabilities. SNAP has been shown to reduce food insecurity and is disproportionately utilized by racial/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. SNAP policy changes could therefore affect healthcare outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in different ways than for others. For example, initial studies by our team and others suggest SNAP may reduce poor healthcare outcomes and Medicaid expenditures, particularly for people with disabilities. However, these studies were limited to population-level or cross- sectional data, and all studied non-random changes to SNAP. Further, no studies have examined the effects of SNAP on healthcare disparities empirically. In this project, we exploit a natural experiment in which arbitrary errors in the Massachusetts eligibility evaluation system caused 75,200 SNAP recipients to receive arbitrary terminations despite actually still being eligible. Moreover, because of recent legislation in the state, we will have access to comprehensive longitudinal SNAP, medical claims, and other public health data on the entire state population. Using these linked data and growth curve modeling, we will examine the impact of losing SNAP benefits on healthcare outcomes and disparities related to disease prevention and management (Aim 1), unfavorable clinical events (Aim 2), and healthcare expenditures (Aim 3). We hypothesize SNAP losses are associated with worse healthcare outcomes and elevated racial/ethnic and disability-based disparities. Cuts to SNAP benefits are routinely debated, but there is limited information on how benefit losses for current recipients would affect healthcare outcomes. Our study will help fill this gap. More broadly, programs like SNAP target determinants of health and healthcare disparities, yet their potential effects on these outcomes have received minimal study. By adding to this literature, our analyses will further the NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan’s goal of supporting “research on the factors underlying health disparities.”


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2023	BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY	415 SOUTH ST	WALTHAM	MA	02453	MIDDLESEX	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	5	1/15/2025	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $568,013 )
2023	2023	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORP	2040 CAMFIELD AVE	COMMERCE	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	4	8/29/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$375,927
2023	2023	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	4	2/6/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$50,248
2023	2023	BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY	415 SOUTH ST	WALTHAM	MA	02453	MIDDLESEX	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	003	5	8/29/2023	CHANGE OF GRANTEE / TRAINING INSTITUTION / AWARDING INSTITUTION	$441,460
2023	2023	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	4	11/26/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$452,232
														Subtotal = $568,013

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $506,200 )
2022	2022	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	3	4/29/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$50,621
2022	2022	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	3	12/1/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$455,579
														Subtotal = $506,200

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $502,480 )
2021	2021	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	11/30/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$452,231
2021	2021	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	2	3/22/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$50,249
														Subtotal = $502,480

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $500,000 )
2020	2020	ALTAMED HEALTH SERVICES CORPORATION	2040 CAMFIELD AVENUE	LOS ANGELES	CA	90040	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	4/13/2020	NEW	$500,000
														Subtotal = $500,000

Grand Total All Awards = $2,076,693

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Effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on racial/ethnic and disability-based healthcare disparities

Award Number: R01MD013837

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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