INCREASING PARTICIPATION IN SNAP & CHIP CAN HELP KIDS

Research shows that when children get help through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and SNAP they are healthier in childhood and as adults, do better in school, have better employment, and earn more.  Children also benefit when their parents get help—for example, when parents get insurance their children go to the doctor more often. It just seems obvious that kids would be helped by connecting them and their parents to the benefits—largely federally funded – that they are already eligible for but not receiving. A new report from the Urban Institute finds that more than 25 million children and 9 million parents nationwide were jointly eligible for the two programs.  But evidence from five states suggests that only about two-thirds of those jointly eligible were getting both.  

 

Source:  Center for Law and Social Policy, 11/3/14, SNAP & CHIP