Journal Article

Access and enrollment in safety net programs in the wake of COVID-19: A national cross-sectional survey

Saloner, Brendan, Gollust, Sarah E., Blewett, Lynn A., Planalp, Colin

2020

Overview

The global COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented job loss and financial strain. It is unclear how those most directly experiencing economic impacts may seek assistance from disparate safety net programs. To identify self-reported economic hardship and enrollment in major safety net programs before and early in the COVID-19 pandemic, we compared individuals with COVID-19 related employment or earnings reduction with other individuals. We created a set of questions related to COVID-19 economic impact that was added to a cross-sectional, nationally representative online survey of American adults (age ≥18, English-speaking) in the AmeriSpeak panel fielded from April 23-27, 2020. All analyses were weighted to account for survey non-response and known oversampling probabilities. We calculated unadjusted bivariate differences, comparing people with and without COVID-19 employment and earnings reductions with other individuals. Our study looked primarily at awareness and enrollment in seven major safety net programs before and since the pandemic (Medicaid, health insurance marketplaces/exchanges, unemployment insurance, food pantries/free meals, housing/renters assistance, SNAP, and TANF). Overall, 28.1% of all individuals experienced an employment reduction (job loss or reduced earnings). Prior to the pandemic, 39.0% of the sample was enrolled in ≥1 safety net program, and 50.0% of individuals who subsequently experienced COVID-19 employment reduction were enrolled in at least one safety net program. Those who experienced COVID-19 employment reduction versus those who did not were significantly more likely to have applied or enrolled in ≥1 program (45.9% versus 11.7%, p<0.001) and also significantly more likely to specifically have enrolled in unemployment insurance (29.4% versus 5.4%, p < .001) and SNAP (16.8% versus 2.8%, p = 0.028). The economic devastation from COVID-19 increases the importance of a robust safety net.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Adults / Betacoronavirus / Biology and Life Sciences / Bivariate analysis / Coronavirus Infections - economics / Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology / Coronavirus Infections - virology / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Cross-Sectional Studies / Demographics / Disease transmission / Earnings / Economic activity / Economic aspects / Economic conditions / Economic hardship / Economic impact / Economic stress / Economics / Employment / Enrollments / Epidemics / Family Characteristics / Female / Food Assistance / Food programs / Food stamps / Government programs / Health aspects / Health care industry / Health insurance / Health Insurance Exchanges / Health Services Accessibility / Healthy food / Households / Housing / Housing - economics / Housing policy / Humans / Impact analysis / Insurance / Male / Meals / Medicaid / Medicine and Health Sciences / Middle Aged / Minority & ethnic groups / Oversampling / Pandemics / Pandemics - economics / Participation / Pneumonia, Viral - economics / Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology / Pneumonia, Viral - virology / Polls & surveys / Profits / Public assistance programs / Public health / Reduction / Safety / Safety-net Providers / SARS-CoV-2 / Social Sciences / Social security / Social services / Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program / Surveys / Surveys and Questionnaires / Tenants / Unemployment / Unemployment insurance / United States / United States - epidemiology / Young Adult