ArticleHealth affairs scholar2025
"A life sentence of hunger": News coverage of state-level PRWORA SNAP restrictions for persons convicted of drug felonies.
Article in Health affairs scholar, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Social policies as determinants of health: new evidence, ongoing challenges, and future pathways.Health affairs scholar · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) revised eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), permanently banning individuals with past felony drug-related convictions, but allowing states to opt out or modify bans. By 2024, 28 states and Washington, DC, fully opted out and 21 states modified PRWORA; only South Carolina maintains a full ban. However, because federal restrictions remain, state legislatures episodically consider reintroduction of restrictions or bans. Household food insecurity exacerbated by SNAP restrictions increases risk of both recidivism and adverse family health. To strengthen advocacy arguments for full SNAP access, we examined state-level public discourse regarding PRWORA policies, including stakeholders and arguments highlighted. We analyzed local media coverage of PRWORA/SNAP legislative and related activity, identifying 84 stories between 1997 and 2022. State-specific case studies compared coverage in states considering lifting (West Virginia), relaxing (Missouri), or tightening (Pennsylvania) PRWORA provisions. Although most coverage was positive towards lifting bans, stories lacked content on nutrition or health policy. Without repeal of the 1996 federal statute, state-specific PRWORA provisions continue to threaten SNAP access. Nutrition advocacy should monitor and influence public discourse about this social justice issue, to shape policies protecting vulnerable populations from food insecurity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.