The effects of SNAP emergency allotments on state-level SNAP benefits and enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all US states provided emergency allotments (EA) to enrollees of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to alleviate rising food insecurity. However, 18 states opted out of the SNAP-EA program before its official expiration in February 2023. Using a staggered difference-in-differences model to account for state-level variation in the timing of the SNAP-EA opt-out decisions, we analyzed SNAP and SNAP-EA data from the US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service to quantify the impact of state opt-out decisions on SNAP benefit size and enrollment. We found that the average SNAP monthly benefit among 18 SNAP opt-out states was reduced by 183 dollars (95% confidence interval [CI]: -214 dollars, -152 dollars) per beneficiary. The percentage of the state population enrolled in the SNAP program among the opt-out states modestly decreased by 0.35 (95% CI: -0.61, -0.10) percentage points. Additionally, we employed logistic regression models to associate state opt-out decisions with state-level characteristics. We found that the state governor's political party being Republican was the only significant predictor for the state's opt-out decisions. Our findings help explain why opting out of SNAP-EA has been associated with higher food insufficiency and shed light on the impact of political decisions to opt out of SNAP-EA on the lives of millions of Americans.