This report from the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program outlines efforts to use identity verification to reduce improper payments in government programs, while mitigating bias and disparate impacts.
The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP)
PolicyEngine is a nonprofit that provides a free, open-source web app enabling users in the US and UK to estimate taxes and benefits at the household level, while also simulating the effects of policy changes. By combining tax and benefits data, PolicyEngine helps individuals and policymakers better understand the impacts of existing policies and proposed reforms, using microsimulation models built from legislation and enhanced survey data.
Github repository for Policy Rules Database, which encodes up-to-date rules and provisions for all major federal and state public assistance programs, taxes, and tax credits.
Unofficial calculator allowing users to see if they may be eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or savings on health insurance. The calculator can be embedded on other websites.
Created by Benefits Data Trust, Benefits Launch Express is a high-level eligibility screening and assistance finder available to Philadelphia residents. The tool screens eligibility for 29 programs and is estimated to take up to 10 minutes to complete.
In June 2021, we analyzed the paper (PDF) version of the SNAP (food stamps) application for all 53 participating states and territories. We found that the average paper application was 17 pages long, including all informational pages. Considering that some paper applications included additional programs, we also analyzed which of those pages included questions about SNAP. On average, the paper applications included SNAP content on 9 pages.
mRelief recently completed a research study to investigate whether there are specific parts of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; also known as food stamps) benefits application process that make it difficult to complete. We conducted interviews with mRelief users and SNAP outreach workers (individuals whose job responsibilities include providing SNAP application assistance in person or over the phone) in Illinois. We also conducted group interviews with SNAP outreach workers to collaborate with them to uncover findings and develop recommendations.
From April 13, 2020 to July 31, 2020, individuals in Kentucky who were determined to be likely eligible for food stamps after completing mRelief’s eligibility screener were randomly assigned to be in either the treatment or the control group. mRelief’s simplified application led to a statistically significant increase in SNAP application completion - from 32% in the control group (status quo) to 59% in the treated group (mRelief).
An America where no one experiences poverty is possible. Already, the U.S. has programs with the potential to make this vision a reality, including programs that provide cash assistance, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The current TANF program provides very little cash assistance and is marked by stark racial disparities, but it has the potential to reduce child poverty, increase economic security, and advance racial equity. This report offers a vision for an anti-racist approach to the TANF program, with new statutory goals and policy recommendations to advance racial justice.
PolicyEngine US is a Python-based microsimulation model of the US tax and benefit system. It models federal individual income taxes (including credits), major benefit programs, and state income taxes (currently in six states). The PolicyEngine US package can be used as a Python package, via the PolicyEngine API, or via the policyengine.org web app.
This artifact is a telestration video introducing Iowa Medicaid's Medicaid Enterprise Modernization Effort (MEME) initiative, providing vendors with background information and strategic outcome priority goals to elicit feedback from the vendor community via Request for Information (RFI).
In response to COVID-19, the Workers Lab and Steady developed the "Income Passport" to streamline gig workers' unemployment benefit applications by pulling income data directly from gig platforms and financial accounts. This tool reduced manual verification time, helped prevent fraud, and improved workers' access to full benefits, with successful tests in Alabama and Louisiana demonstrating significant time savings and improved service delivery.
