The impact of the ACA Medicaid expansion on SNAP participation

Abstract The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased health insurance access for individuals with incomes at or below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) by expanding Medicaid income limits for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) and for households with children. While the direct effects of this expansion are well-documented, the effects on participation in related social safety net programs are less clear. Understanding these effects is essential for designing and evaluating the effectiveness of federal social safety net programs. To this end, we attempt to determine how the ACA Medicaid expansion affected household SNAP participation. Our empirical results indicate that the expansion led to a 3.18 percentage-point (17.1 percent at the pre-expansion mean) overall increase in SNAP participation among income-eligible households. We find a strong effect for ABAWD households regardless of their income level. However, for households with children, we find a strong effect for those under the poverty line but mixed effects for those above the poverty line. While our study cannot definitively identify the mechanism underlying these effects, our results suggest that increased SNAP participation was likely driven by greater awareness of safety net programs rather than changes in employment or hours worked.