What’s lost with pandemic-era benefits ending?
Beginning as early as March of 2020, programs were put into place to alleviate hardships that communities were experiencing from the nationwide shelter-in-place orders. Agencies scrambled to find ways to continue to provide services, businesses and schools had to navigate a remote environment, and the government pulled together short-term emergency funding to help cover needs ranging from providing two meals a day to school aged children, to making sure small businesses had a financial cushion to carry them through closures, in some cases without losing valuable employees.
As the public health crisis continued past the expected end date many people began to lose their jobs, could not leave their homes for necessary medical care, and struggled to buy food or find ways to have food delivered to them. For those households that were already experiencing hardships prior to the pandemic, these support programs were especially crucial in keeping them housed, fed and healthy. Some of the most important investments related to food and health care during the pandemic included:
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – Authorized direct stimulus payments of $1,200 per adult plus $500 per child for households making under $75,000 annually, giving a much need boost to household income and the struggling economy. This money could be used for anything from food and housing costs to retail purchases.
Expanded SNAP benefits – Lowered the income threshold and waived work and/or household size requirements typically enforced to receive benefits and increased the maximum benefit for everyone receiving SNAP (federal) or CalFresh (statewide) up to 15%.
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) – Temporary emergency nutrition benefits loaded onto EBT for eligible school aged children and/or younger children in households participating in SNAP while schools are closed or have reduced hours. This ensured that children dependent on school meals for part of their nutrition were still supported.
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) waivers – Allowed all schools to provide two meals a day to all children 18 and under regardless of household income, and permitted schools to modify how meals were being provided (ex: buses delivering to rural areas, caregivers able to pick up meals for a week at a time, food boxes through the mail). As with the above program, ensured that children’s nutrition was protected.
Expanded Telehealth Flexibilities – Health care providers operating under the Medicare and Medicaid programs were given the flexibility to provide services via telehealth allowing patients to receive an expanded number of services without risking their health by leaving home. This was especially helpful for many seniors and for those living in rural areas without easy access to care.
Pausing Medicaid Redetermination - In addition to expanded coverage options, patients covered under the Medicaid programs were provided with “Continuous Coverage” which removed the requirement to prove their eligibility each month, enabling thousands to continue receiving care regardless of their employment status or income level.
What Did We Learn?
As the public health crisis began to wind down, it became apparent that many of the pandemic era programs were incredibly successful. During the pandemic:
The number of people with annual incomes below the poverty line fell by eight million in 2020, the largest decline in poverty since 1967. Monthly estimates showed poverty continued to decline from 2020 to 2021.
The number of adults reporting that their household did not get enough to eat in the last seven days declined, and specifically, food insecurity for households with children fell significantly from 14.8% to 12.5%, an all-time low.
Medicaid enrollment increased by over twelve million from February 2020 to July 2021 due to relief provisions that provided continuity of coverage, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace enrollment grew by more than three million from 2020 to 2022.
The highest rates of telehealth visits were among those covered by Medicaid (28.3%) and Medicare (26.8%), individuals who are Black (26.1%), and those earning less than $25,000 annually (26.4%) showing that those most vulnerable in our communities benefited the most.
While some benefits and services provided during the Public Health Emergency are sunsetting, a few are continuing.
These include:
Free COVID-19 vaccines for all adults and children
COVID-19 at-home tests covered for Medicaid recipients
No-cost COVID-19 community testing sites
Free severe COVID-19 medications (while supplies last)
Telehealth services available in any geographic area for Medicare recipients
Emergency Broadband Benefits for low- to medium-income households
As we approached the end of the Public Health Emergency earlier this year, many programs ran out of funding and/or ended the enhanced support they had been providing. One of the most significant cuts was in the SNAP and CalFresh programs where household food benefits were cut by an average of $82 a month. Many advocacy groups are calling the decrease a “hunger cliff” and organizations that provide food support, such as Ceres and regional food banks, have already seen increases in demand. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operates the SNAP program, more than 80% of beneficiaries are working families, people with disabilities or elderly people, and about two-thirds of the households include children.
Youth Board Member with Ceres’ Meals.
For many of Ceres’ clients already struggling to prepare meals while experiencing a serious health crisis, any decrease in supplemental income and/or support can be detrimental. With ever increasing inflation, food costs have risen to an all-time high, making it even more challenging to purchase healthy, nourishing food everyone needs most. In 2022, 83% of our clients were living at less than 200% of the poverty level (or $25,000 a year for a single person), and this year 47% answered “yes” to at least one of two food insecurity questions. These clients were offered extra food support through supplemental grocery bags and/or an additional serving of meals. Not surprisingly, 88% of them accepted, and with the end of extended CalFresh benefits in February of this year we have already seen these numbers begin to rise.
Ceres’ meatball soup.
“I love the meals and the exceptional groceries, especially in this time of such inflation. I volunteered at the Salvation Army before I fell ill. I looked out for everyone on the food line. Now I know even better what it is like to be on the other side. Thank you and your team for all that you do. It is appreciated in a big way!”
- Ceres client
Pandemic era benefits lifted millions of children out of poverty and reduced the number of community residents facing food insecurity. Research shows that both factors translate to greater success in school, higher graduation rates, better lifetime earnings, and overall healthier lives . . . contributing to a lifetime of savings. At Ceres, we are encouraging state and federal policy makers to turn these lessons into long-term investments in healthy food access, health care coverage, and children’s health, to better support and enhance the lives of our communities for decades to come.
To Learn More:
What Happens When COVID-19 Emergency Declarations End? https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/what-happens-when-covid-19-emergency-declarations-end-implications-for-coverage-costs-and-access/
Telehealth in the Pandemic – How Has it Changed Health Care Delivery in Medicaid and Medicare https://www.gao.gov/blog/telehealth-pandemic-how-has-it-changed-health-care-delivery-medicaid-and-medicare
Medi-Cal and the End of the Federal Continuous Coverage Requirement https://www.chcf.org/collection/medi-cal-end-public-health-emergency/
Robust COVID Relief Achieved Historic Gains Against Poverty and Hardship, Bolstered Economy https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/robust-covid-relief-achieved-historic-gains-against-poverty-and