· Identify a policy that is not usually intended to be a health policy but that you think may have important health implications.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) assistance, also known as food stamps, is an example of a policy that is not usually intended to be a health policy but may have important health implications. Eligibility requirements for SNAP assistance including works requirements differs between states but many states have waivers for these requirements in areas with high prevalence of unemployment. There has been a push to limit these waivers in order to incentivize working and employment. However, a possible consequence of liming these waivers is that families from disadvantages socioeconomic background may find it more difficult to have access to healthy food options which can lead to malnutrition and higher susceptibility to different health problems.
· Describe why an evaluation of that policy is informative (e.g., determining effects of the policy, or primarily a test of hypothesized mediators).
Proponent of stricter work requirements to qualify for SNAP assistance argue that these stricter requirements would incentivize unemployed to seek employment. However, opponent of these stricter requirements argue that these would lead to further limiting food access in families from disadvantages socioeconomic background. Evaluation of the policy of stricter work requirements to qualify for SNAP would help to elucidate its impact on incentivizing work and employment versus its impact on access to healthy food options.
· Specify the outcomes and populations you think most affected or least affected by the policy.
The population most affected by this policy would be families from disadvantaged socioeconomic background living in areas with high unemployment rate. Outcome would be change in the rate of employment and access to healthy food options.
· Propose a study design to evaluate the policy.
In order to evaluate the effect of stricter work requirements to qualify for SNAP assistance, we can look at two states, one which adopts these stricter requirements, and one that does not adopt these requirements. One year after implementing these policies, we can look at the change in the rate of employment and access to healthy food options in families from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds living in high unemployment areas and see how it has changed employment rate and access to healthy food options.
· Describe biggest challenge to implementing and drawing inferences about the impact of the policy on health.
One of the biggest challenge to implementing and drawing inferences about the impact of this policy on health is that there are different issues that contribute to access to healthy food and even having access to SNAP assistance in a neighborhood that does not have any readily available healthy food options cannot necessarily improve access to healthy food and overall improve overall health.