Associations of State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Eligibility Policies With Mammography

Abstract

Purpose: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) addresses food insecurity for low-income households, which is associated with access to care. Many US states expanded SNAP access through policies eliminating the asset test (ie, restrictions based on SNAP applicant assets) and/or broadening income eligibility. The objective of this study was to determine whether state SNAP policies were associated with the use of mammography among women eligible for breast cancer screening.

Methods: Data for income-eligible women 40 to 79 years of age were obtained from the 2006 to 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Difference-in-differences analyses were conducted to compare changes in the percentage of mammography in the past year from pre- to post-SNAP policy adoption (asset test elimination or income eligibility increase) between states that and did not adopt policies expanding SNAP eligibility.

Results: In total, 171,684 and 294,647 income-eligible female respondents were included for the asset test elimination policy and income eligibility increase policy analyses, respectively. Mammography within 1 year was reported by 58.4%. Twenty-eight and 22 states adopted SNAP asset test elimination and income increase policies, respectively. Adoption of asset test elimination policies was associated with a 2.11 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07-4.15; P = .043) percentage point increase in mammography received within 1 year, particularly for nonmetropolitan residents (4.14 percentage points; 95% CI, 1.07-7.21 percentage points; P = .008), those with household incomes <$25,000 (2.82 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.68-4.97 percentage points; P = .01), and those residing in states in the South (3.08 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.17-5.99 percentage points; P = .038) or that did not expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (3.35 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.36-6.34; P = .028). There was no significant association between mammography and state-level policies broadening of SNAP income eligibility.

Conclusions: State policies eliminating asset test requirements for SNAP eligibility were associated with increased mammography among low-income women eligible for breast cancer screening, particularly for those in the lowest income bracket or residing in nonmetropolitan areas or Medicaid nonexpansion states.

Keywords: Mammography; SNAP; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; access to care; difference-in-differences; public policy.