Simplified Application Demonstration Evaluation for the Food Stamp Program. Final Report. Volume 1: Summary of Findings. Volume 2: Details of Central Findings. Volume 3: Details of Supporting Studies

摘要

Food Stamp Program rules governing the determination of eligibility and the calculation of benefits are extremely complex. They thus create time-consuming administrative processes which are often subject to error. Rules have been developed since the inception of the program to deal with a wide variety of circumstances, including different types of income and resources, household structure and composition, and household expenses that are deducted from income. The purpose of establishing these complex rules has often been to allow households with unusual circumstances that place them in need of assistance to participate in the program, but at the same time to define those circumstances carefully to ensure that access to the program and benefit levels reflect true need accurately. The results of this policy-development pattern has been complex eligibility and benefit determination process which is expensive to administer, and which, by its complexity, creates numerous opportunities for errors by eligibility staff. Efforts to simplify policy, reduce administrative costs, and remove these sources of error must confront the competing concern that has motivated much of past policy development: a concern for 'targeting' benefits by channeling available program benefits efficiently to households which need them most.