Proposed Changes to Food Stamp Eligibility Could Put Health at Risk for Millions
As many as 5.1 million people could lose eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under changes to the program now under consideration by Congress. That's according to a new study examining the potential health effects and health-related costs by the Health Impact Project-a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Among the affected, the study suggests, are 1.4 million children and nearly 900,000 older adults. The proposed changes could also increase the number of Americans who live in poverty and who have difficulty getting enough to eat. Click here to read more.

Results of the federal urban Empowerment Zone program
(From the Institute for Research on Poverty)
Matias Busso, Jesse Gregory, and Patrick Kline
A growing number of "place-based" policies target economic support to specific geographic areas, rather than to individuals. Economists have traditionally expressed skepticism that these programs actually benefit the residents of communities receiving support. Indeed, standard economic models of spatial equilibrium suggest mobile workers and firms will take advantage of the benefits associated with local policies by relocating across the boundaries of targeted areas. Local land prices ought then to rise and offset any welfare gains that might otherwise accrue to prior residents. We examine these predictions by evaluating the economic effects of Round I of the federal urban Empowerment Zone program, one of the largest place-based policies in the United States. Our findings build on an active literature on smaller, state-level programs. Click here to read more.

Variation in Health Care Spending: Target Decision Making, Not Geography
(From the Institute of Medicine)
For over three decades, researchers have documented large, systematic variation in Medicare fee-for-service spending and service use across geographic regions, seemingly unrelated to health outcomes. This variation has been interpreted by many to imply that high spending areas are overusing or misusing medical care. Policymakers, seeking strategies to reduce Medicare costs, naturally wonder if cutting payment rates to high cost areas would save money without adversely affecting Medicare beneficiary health care quality and outcomes. Yet, many have cautioned that geographically-based payment policies may have adverse effects if higher costs are caused by other variables like beneficiary burden of illness, or area policies that affect health outcomes. Click here to read more.

The 2010 edition of Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card shows that the nation and the states continue to fall short in meeting women's health needs. Despite some progress on individual health status indicators, overall the nation is still so far from meeting key women's health objectives that it receives a grade of "Unsatisfactory" in this fifth and last report for this decade. Additionally, the Report Card shows that while states continue to adopt policies to advance women's health, progress has slowed-and in some cases stagnated-at a time when they still have a long way to go. Fortunately, a new health policy landscape is forming as a result of the federal health care law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or ACA) that was enacted in March 2010. Many of the policy goals examined in the Report Card will be realized as the ACA is implemented. With the law's emphasis on access to health care-including the critical preventive services that women need to stay healthy-the new law can, over time, lead to major improvements in the health status of women. Click here to read more.

Formerly known as the IASWR Listserv, SWRnet (Social Work Research Network) was launched in October 2009 to continue serving the social work research community by providing regular updates on funding opportunities, calls for papers, conference deadlines and newly published research.