Medicaid expansion and participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: The role of Integrated Eligibility Systems

Abstract

Evidence suggests the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion may increase participation in other public programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This study examines a potential mechanism behind these effects. Before the expansion, most states operated Integrated Eligibility Systems that managed enrollment processes for various public programs. In 2014, many states decoupled Medicaid from these platforms following Medicaid's new eligibility criteria. This research examines the impact of Medicaid expansion on integrated systems and SNAP participation, finding higher SNAP participation rates in states with uninterrupted Integrated Eligibility Systems compared to those that delinked their systems or never had such systems.