Easing Cash Assistance Rules During COVID-19 Was Associated With Reduced Days Of Poor Physical And Mental Health

Unemployment rates soared at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, increasing financial stress that can affect physical and mental health. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is the primary cash assistance program for low-income families in the US, with benefits conditional on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Health affairs (Millwood, Va.) Va.), 2022-11, Vol.41 (11), p.1590-139
Main Authors:	Dore, Emily C, Livingston, Melvin D, Shafer, Paul R
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Assistance Benefits Binge drinking Coronaviruses COVID-19 Direct payments Drinking behavior Economic crisis Economic stress Education Employment Executive orders Families & family life Food stamps Health status Job requirements Low income groups Mental health Pandemics Public assistance programs Public health Risk analysis Risk behavior Risk factors Risk taking Sanctions Secondary schools Stress Surveillance Surveillance systems Suspension Unemployment Welfare policy Welfare reform Welfare services Work
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Summary:	Unemployment rates soared at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, increasing financial stress that can affect physical and mental health. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is the primary cash assistance program for low-income families in the US, with benefits conditional on work activities and subject to suspension. However, many states loosened requirements during the pandemic. Using TANF policy data and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from the period January 2017-December 2020 with a triple-difference design, we found a general protective effect of supportive changes to TANF on poor physical and mental health days and binge drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic for likely TANF participants. For example, providing emergency cash benefits to those not already participating in TANF, waiving work requirements, waiving or pausing sanctions, and automatically recertifying benefits were associated with reductions in the number of mentally unhealthy days. This study provides support for increasing generosity and easing administrative burdens in safety-net programs to buffer against negative impacts of public health and economic crises.
ISSN:	0278-2715 2694-233X