“I Can’t Get Ahold of Them”: Perceptions of Administrative Burden and Administrative Exclusion across SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Using data from 113 in-depth interviews with beneficiaries of social welfare programs, I examine the ease of access to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy changes that were enacted in response to COVID-19 were explicitly designed to reduce the administrative burden of program participation. I find that while WIC and Medicaid participants reported easier access to benefits, SNAP saw high demand and bureaucratic constraints that undermined access. SNAP participants encountered difficulties that they attributed to burdensome experiences to administrative exclusion. I show how applicants perceived organizational practices as excluding eligible populations from participation in government programs and undermining policies that were designed to reduce administrative burdens.