The Center for Social Data Analytics Colloquium speaker: Tracee Saunders

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Burden Reduction in a Social Safety Net Program Reduces Mortality

Many eligible individuals do not enroll in social safety net programs because of burdensome administrative procedures, ranging from confusion about eligibility guidelines to complicated paperwork. But what happens when eligible individuals don't take up benefits for which they’re eligible? While we know the short term impacts, such as forgone income and benefits, the long term consequences of these losses remain poorly understood. We examine the mortality impacts of burden reduction – particularly learning costs associated with understanding eligibility and benefits –  for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial (N=4,016,461) in which informational letters were sent to older adults likely eligible, but not enrolled in SSI, we estimate the mortality effects of older adults’ subsequent enrollment in SSI. The intervention increased SSI awards by an estimated 1.8 percentage points (or a 340 percent increase from a baseline enrollment rate of 0.5 percent). Among those who enrolled in SSI, we estimate a reduction in mortality (Hazard Ratio=0.6101, 95% CI=0.5127 - 0.7075). These results demonstrate that burden reduction may not only increase access to social welfare programs like SSI in the short term but may have significant downstream effects for reducing beneficiaries’ mortality.  

Tracee Saunders is an assistant professor of Political Science. She specializes in American politics, public policy and social, health, and racial inequality. Her research uses a variety of methodological techniques to understand political determinants of access to health care and social welfare resources in the U.S. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and Arnold Ventures.