The Effect of Work Requirements in SNAP in Virginia

ConditionsHealth Disparities Food Security

Trial statusRecruiting

Trial phaseNot applicable

Trial typeInterventional

Biological sexAll

Age18-49

SponsorHarvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM)

About this trial

More than a dozen states have proposed or plan to implement work requirements in Medicaid, and similar requirements already exist nationally in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), yet evidence on the effects of these policies is limited. In cooperation with the state of Virginia, the investigators plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial studying the impacts of work requirements in public programs on insurance coverage, SNAP participation, employment, and health, with a particular focus on changes in racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in these outcomes. The COVID-19 epidemic and concurrent economic downturn creates additional urgency around these issues, and the investigators will use a combination of national administrative data and a new population survey to assess disparities in employment, health care, and food insecurity during this crisis.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Eligible for Virginia's SNAP program as an "able-bodied adult without dependents" (ABAWD) and thus subject to work requirements (this eligibility is age restricted to 18-49)

Disqualifiers

Categorical exemption from work requirements for any reason (e.g., has a disability, has dependents, resides in a geographic area where work requirements have been waived due to elevated employment)

Trial design

Design model

Factorial

Treatments tested in this trial

Work requirement exemption months
Other intervention
Cross-randomized intervention will test effect of additional exemption months before work requirements in SNAP become binding and extensions of the standard SNAP recertification period.

Treatment groups

12,500 Participants

are divided into 5 treatment groups

Group A: Control GroupNo intervention 0 interventions

Group B: Intervention Group 1Active comparator 1 intervention

Group C: Intervention Group 2Active comparator 1 intervention

Group D: Intervention Group 3Active comparator 1 intervention

Group E: Intervention Group 4Active comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes