Churn in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Changes in Medicaid Expenditure and Acute Care Utilization.

Background: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides financial assistance to low-income individuals and families to help them purchase food. However, when participants experience short-term disenrollment from the program, known as churn, it can disrupt their health care usage patterns or result in acute health care needs due to the loss of financial benefits and time burden required to reapply for SNAP.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the changes in health care expenditures and acute care utilization during periods of SNAP churn compared with nonchurn periods among those who churn during the study period.