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Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Population Health Research Brief Series

Waiving SNAP Interviews during the COVID19 Pandemic Increased SNAP Caseloads

Colleen Heflin, William Clay Fannin, Leonard Lopoo, and Siobhan O’Keefe

March 2024

Abstract

Food insecurity in the United States reached historically high rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus substantially increasing demand for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). To facilitate access to SNAP during the pandemic, the federal government granted state SNAP offices the option to waive the interview requirement – an administrative burden associated with the SNAP certification process. This brief summarizes findings from a recent study that used data from SNAP offices across 10 states to examine the impact of SNAP interview waivers on SNAP caseloads from January 5th to April 30th of 2021. Findings reveal that counties that implemented the SNAP interview waiver experienced an estimated 5% increase in SNAP caseloads compared to counties that did not.

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health