Grants and Contracts Details
Description
Our goal is to generate new evidence on whether alleviating childhood hunger and food
insecurity can affect healthcare utilization and spending among children from low-income and
resource poor environments. To do so, we leverage the timing of Kentucky’s universal meals
program adoption–via school-based Community Eligibility Provisions (CEP)--throughout
Kentucky. CEP programs offer free school meals to all students in high-poverty schools, and
they are an extension of the National School Lunch Program. Despite important benefits (e.g.,
child food security, increased academic performance), we do not know whether CEP benefits
may spillover to also affect disparities in healthcare utilization and spending that arise from
food insecurity. Prior studies show declines in medical expenditures and hospital encounters
following SNAP participation and expansions, but a gap in knowledge exists regarding the
impacts of CEPs on health outcomes beyond food security. Our guiding hypothesis is CEPs can
decouple the strong link between food insecurity and healthcare use for vulnerable school-aged
children. We anticipate that declines in food insecurity due to CEP programs will increase
affordability and compliance of lower-cost healthcare (e.g., preventive care and screenings in
office-based settings), therefore delays in care due to financial constraint will occur less
frequently.
Status | Active |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 10/4/24 → 6/30/26 |
Funding
- KY Cabinet for Health and Family Services: $103,275.00
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