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- Title
Costs, Reach, and Benefits of COVID-19 Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer and Grab-and-Go School Meals for Ensuring Youths' Access to Food During School Closures.
- Authors
Kenney, Erica L.; Walkinshaw, Lina Pinero; Shen, Ye; Fleischhacker, Sheila E.; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Bleich, Sara N.; Krieger, James W.
- Abstract
This economic evaluation evaluates the reach, costs, and benefits of the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer and grab-and-go meals programs for students during COVID-19–related school closures in the US from March to June 2020. Key Points: Question: What were the operating costs, costs and benefits to families, and proportion of eligible youths who received benefits of 2 programs aimed at replacing school meals missed when US schools were closed owing to COVID-19 from March to June 2020? Findings: In this economic evaluation, among 30 million youths eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program (state agencies sent debit cards loaded with the cash value of missed school meals to families) reached 89% of eligible students and cost $6.46 per meal. Grab-and-go school meals (school food service departments provided prepared meals for off-site consumption) reached 27% and cost $8.07 per meal. Meaning: These findings suggest that during times when youths cannot access school meals, state and federal agencies should support cost-efficient programs for schools to distribute prepared meals and activate programs such as P-EBT to efficiently reach eligible youths. Importance: School meals are associated with improved nutrition and health for millions of US children, but school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted children's access to school meals. Two policy approaches, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, which provided the cash value of missed meals directly to families on debit-like cards to use for making food purchases, and the grab-and-go meals program, which offered prepared meals from school kitchens at community distribution points, were activated to replace missed meals for children from low-income families; however, the extent to which these programs reached those who needed them and the programs' costs were unknown. Objective: To assess the proportion of eligible youths who were reached by P-EBT and grab-and-go meals, the amount of meals or benefits received, and the cost to implement each program. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2020. The study population was all US youths younger than 19 years, including US youths aged 6 to 18 years who were eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals (primary analysis sample). Exposures: Receipt of P-EBT or grab-and-go school meals. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were the percentage of youths reached by P-EBT and grab-and-go school meals, mean benefit received per recipient, and mean cost, including implementation costs and time costs to families per meal distributed. Results: Among 30 million youths eligible for free or reduced-price meals, grab-and-go meals reached an estimated 8.0 million (27%) and P-EBT reached 26.9 million (89%). The grab-and-go school meals program distributed 429 million meals per month in spring 2020, and the P-EBT program distributed $3.2 billion in monthly cash benefits, equivalent to 1.1 billion meals. Among those receiving benefits, the mean monthly benefit was larger for grab-and-go school meals ($148; range across states, $44-$176) compared with P-EBT ($110; range across states, $55-$114). Costs per meal delivered were lower for P-EBT ($6.46; range across states, $6.41-$6.79) compared with grab-and-go school meals ($8.07; range across states, $2.97-$15.27). The P-EBT program had lower public sector implementation costs but higher uncompensated time costs to families (eg, preparation time for meals) compared with grab-and-go school meals. Conclusions and Relevance: In this economic evaluation, both the P-EBT and grab-and-go school meal programs supported youths' access to food in complementary ways when US schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic from March to June 2020.
- Subjects
UNITED States; FOOD relief; FOOD security; CROSS-sectional method; HUMAN services programs; SCHOOLS; COST analysis; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; RESEARCH funding; ENDOWMENTS; DATA analysis software; COVID-19 pandemic; MEALS; FOOD service
- Publication
JAMA Network Open, 2022, Vol 5, Issue 9, pe2229514
- ISSN
2574-3805
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.29514