Decreasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) denials due to incomplete information

What is the agency priority?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to 1 in 8 Americans, or over 42 million people annually.¹ In an effort to improve service delivery, customer experience, and client access to nutrition assistance from SNAP, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 invested over $1.1 billion to provide administrative support to states to invest in technology modernization. Through this modernization effort, USDA sought to increase food security and ensure that SNAP is accessible to the communities it is intended to serve.

What did we evaluate?

Applying for SNAP benefits requires applicants to submit applications, provide the state with multiple verification documents, and complete an interview with a caseworker. Failure to complete the final two steps results in a denial of benefits for incomplete information rather than a denial for lack of eligibility.

Uploading verification documents can be difficult for several reasons — applicants may struggle to remember passwords to online systems that accept documents, scanning documents to upload or mail in can be cumbersome, and applicants may be unsure whether they have already uploaded documents. With these barriers in mind, Code for America (CfA) collaborated with a large southern U.S. state to create an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly, web-based document uploader to make it easier for applicants to submit verification documents. The redesigned uploader did not require a log-in password that applicants would have to accurately recall or reset and allowed applicants to drag and drop files into it from their desktop.

How did the evaluation work?

Between September and December 2023, online SNAP applicants (N=33,574) who applied as part of the regular online application process were randomized to a basic text message group or uploader text message group. For applicants assigned to the uploader text group, these text messages included individualized links which granted them access to the redesigned document uploader and encouraged its use. No changes were made to the SNAP application or approval process beyond the introduction of this new, alternative method for uploading verification documents and the introduction of the text campaign.

What did we learn?

A text campaign that included a link to a redesigned document uploader resulted in fewer applicants being denied SNAP benefits due to incomplete eligibility information by 1.1 percentage points. The intervention did not have a meaningful impact on SNAP enrollment.

These results could reflect implementation challenges with the intervention that may have weakened its effects, a need to address additional pain points in the application process, or that the intervention helped applicants who were ultimately ineligible submit documents or withdraw their applications sooner. Other interventions may be more effective — or at least more cost effective — at moving the needle on priority outcomes than the one evaluated in this study.

Notes:

1. Food and Nutrition Service, Program Data Featured Reports.

Verify the upload date of our analysis plan on GitHub.