No. 6 in Series, "Snapshots of America's Families III"
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
Families that left welfare recently are taking greater advantage of government benefits than those that left shortly after welfare reform was enacted. Moreover, families that receive government benefits after leaving welfare are less likely to return.
DATA AT A GLANCE
FOOD STAMP RECEIPT AMONG WELFARE LEAVERS ROSE FROM 28 PERCENT IN 1999 TO 35 PERCENT IN 2002.
ADULTS' MEDICAID AND SCHIP RECEIPT INCREASED FROM 40 PERCENT IN 1999 TO 48 PERCENT IN 2002.
33 PERCENT OF FAMILIES WITHOUT MEDICAID OR SCHIP RETURNED TO WELFARE COMPARED WITH 22 PERCENT OF FAMILIES WITH THIS COVERAGE. |
In the early days of reform, large numbers of families that left welfare also stopped receiving other government benefits, particularly food stamps and Medicaid (Zedlewski and Gruber 2001; Garrett and Holahan 2000; Acs and Loprest 2001). Such benefits are usually provided in conjunction with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and are thus more susceptible to being lost after leaving welfare—even though most leavers' families remain eligible for them.1 Reasons eligible families do not participate in these programs include confusion over continued eligibility; difficulty meeting ongoing administrative requirements, particularly while working; and the desire to be rid of any dependence on government.
In response, many states undertook to increase former recipients' knowledge about their eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps and to ease their administrative difficulties by simplifying forms, providing off-hours appointments, and making it possible to redetermine benefits by Internet or telephone. Changes to the federal Food Stamp program in 2001 allowed states to ease that program's reporting requirements.
New results from the National Survey of America's Families comparing families that left TANF between 2000 and 2002 (recent leavers) and families that left between 1997 and 1999 (early leavers) show that use of food stamps and Medicaid has increased and that recent leavers who use government benefits are less likely to return to TANF.
Receipt of food stamps at the time of the interview was higher among recent leavers than early leavers: 35.4 percent compared with 28.1 percent (figure 1).2 Participation in Medicaid, including enrollment in State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), was also higher among recent leavers. Receipt of Medicaid by children increased from 56.9 percent of early leavers to 64.3 percent of recent leavers, consistent with recent findings that Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment increased substantially among all children in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (Kenney, Haley, and Tebay 2003). Medicaid and SCHIP receipt among adults who left welfare increased from 40.3 percent to 48.0 percent.
Countering Returns to TANF
Receiving government benefits after leaving welfare can tide families over crises that would otherwise lead them to return to TANF. This is true of both early leavers (Loprest 2002) and recent leavers. Recent leavers were asked about their use of government child care, health insurance, help with expenses, and job search or job training in the first three months after leaving TANF. Use of the benefits varied, with 24.1 percent using child care, 65.1 percent receiving health insurance, and relatively small proportions getting help with expenses (11.9 percent) and job search or training (10.8 percent). Reported use of each of these benefits in the first months after leaving welfare was similar among recent and early leavers.
The percentage of recent leavers returning to welfare is lower among those who obtained help with child care or health insurance. As shown in figure 2, 19.5 percent of families receiving help with child care returned to TANF, compared with 27.7 percent of families without such help. Similarly, 21.7 percent of families with government health insurance subsequently returned to TANF, compared with 32.8 percent of families without such insurance. The rates of return among those who received government help with expenses were not significantly different from the rates among those who did not. Nor was there a significant difference in the rate of return between those who received job search assistance or training and those who did not. Former recipients who received more than one type of government assistance were significantly less likely to return to TANF.
Conclusion
State and federal efforts to halt the downward trend in receipt of Medicaid and food stamps after leaving welfare may have worked. Alternatively, these results may reflect broader trends toward increased enrollment, or harder economic times may have encouraged more families to seek or retain these benefits. In any case, increased participation, coupled with evidence that receipt of government benefits is linked to lower returns to welfare, shows that noncash government benefits are playing a positive transitional role for a greater number of families.
Figures
References
Acs, Gregory, and Pamela Loprest. 2001. "Final Synthesis Report of the Findings from ASPE's Leavers Grants." Report to the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.
Garrett, Bowen, and John Holahan. 2000. "Welfare Leavers, Medicaid Coverage, and Private Health Insurance." Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. Assessing the New Federalism Policy Brief B-13.
Kenney, Genevieve, Jennifer Haley, and Alexandra Tebay. 2003. "Children's Insurance Coverage and Service Use Improve." Snapshots of America's Families III, No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.
Loprest, Pamela. 2002. "Who Returns to Welfare?" Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. Assessing the New Federalism Policy Brief B-49.
Zedlewski, Sheila, and Amelia Gruber. 2001. Former Welfare Families Continue to Leave the Food Stamp Program. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute. Assessing the New Federalism Discussion Paper 01-05.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Kelly Rader for her excellent research assistance.
Endnotes
1 A small number of families leaving welfare will have incomes above the eligibility thresholds for these programs.
2 Because most families on TANF also receive food stamps and Medicaid, the results reported here for food stamps and Medicaid refer only to families that left TANF and did not return.
Pamela Loprest is a senior research associate in the Income and Benefits Policy Center of the Urban Institute. Dr. Loprest's research focuses on policies that can support work among low-income families and persons with disabilities.
About the Series
Snapshots III presents findings from the 1997, 1999, and 2002 rounds of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF). Information on more than 100,000 people was gathered from approximately 40,000 representative households in each round. The NSAF is part of the Assessing the New Federalism project (ANF). Information on ANF and the NSAF can be obtained at http://www.urban.org/anf.
This Snapshot was funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The Assessing the New Federalism project is also currently supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The Ford Foundation.
Alan Weil is the director of Assessing the New Federalism. Kenneth Finegold is the editor of Snapshots III. Design is by Bremmer & Goris Communications.
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