The Patterns of Food Stamp and WIC Participation and Their Effects on Health of Low-Income Children

The primary purpose of the paper is to examine 1) the patterns of program participation in the Food Stamp Program (FSP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) during the time of welfare reform in Illinois; and 2) the effects of WIC on young children's health outcomes. The study uses a unique linked data set based on population-level administrative data on all births, Food Stamp and WIC participation, and Medicaid eligibility and claims in Illinois between 1990 and 1998. We estimate that about 65 percent of all children born during the study period received any of WIC, FSP, or AFDC/TANF by age 5 in Illinois. While this overall program participation rate (to any of the three programs) changed very little across birth cohorts, there has been a considerable shift in the participation patterns across the three programs. We find that as welfare reform was implemented in Illinois, both FSP and AFDC/TANF participation rates declined substantially while WIC participation rates continued to increase. Further, we find that most of the decrease in FSP participation was due to drops in entries to TANF. We find some evidence to suggest that families with young children are turning more to WIC for essential food items for their young children in recent years. We also find that service receipt duration for both FSP and WIC has become shorter in recent years, although the shortening durations were more noticeable in FSP than in WIC. When the effects of WIC on health outcomes are considered, we find that children receiving WIC are more likely to receive preventive health care services through EPSDT services than those not receiving WIC. Among those children enrolled in Medicaid, WIC children are significantly less likely to be diagnosed with health problems associated with inadequate nutrition than those not participating in WIC.