Does Participation in the Food Stamp Program Increase the Prevalence of Obesity and Health Care Spending? |
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| Authors: | Chad D Meyerhoefer and Yuriy Pylypchuk |
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| Institution: | Chad D. Meyerhoefer is economist, U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Yuriy Pylypchuk is economist, Social and Scientific Systems. Authorship of the article is equally shared. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors, and no official endorsement by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services or Social and Scientific Systems is intended or should be inferred. The authors thank without implicating Tom Selden, Melissa Dangle, David Ribar, Dean Jolliffe, three anonymous reviewers, and participants of the American Society for Health Economists Inaugural Research Conference, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Research Conference, and USDA/ERS Workshop on Food Assistance and Obesity for helpful comments and suggestions. In addition, we thank Nader Kabbani for providing data on Food Stamp Program outreach expenditures. |
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| Abstract: | We use panel data techniques and information on state-level Food Stamp Program characteristics to obtain unbiased estimates of the impact of Food Stamp Program participation on weight status and health care spending among nonelderly adults. Our results suggest that program participation by women leads to a 5.9% (p = 0.07) increase in their likelihood of overweight and obesity, which is smaller than previous estimates, and to higher medical expenditures. The direct effect of program participation on medical spending through higher discretionary income is significantly larger than the indirect effect through changes in weight status. |
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| Keywords: | Food Stamp Program medical expenditures obesity panel data |
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