Prev Chronic Dis
-
Food insecurity worsens health outcomes and is associated with increased health care usage and expenditures. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) reduces but does not eliminate recipients' food insecurity. We sought to determine whether inpatient Medicaid usage and expenditure patterns responded to an April 2009 increase in SNAP benefit levels and a subsequent November 2013 decrease. ⋯ Although alternative causal explanations warrant consideration, changes in SNAP benefit levels were associated with changes in inpatient Medicaid usage and cost patterns.