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How the Pandemic Affected Food Insecurity Among Older Adults

By Mac Daniel


Enhanced SNAP benefits must be made permanent, suggests two new issue briefs from the LTSS Center and NCOA.

The economic downturn and a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic have impacted everyone’s life. But a new study by researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) shows that the rising rate of food insecurity in the United States could impact older, poorer adults and their families for years to come.

Two issue briefs underscore the long-lasting effects of pandemic-related food insecurity among older adults, especially older women and people of color:

The research suggests that enhancements to SNAP were likely effective in temporarily decreasing pandemic-induced food insecurity among vulnerable older adults. However, the increased SNAP benefits provided by the American Rescue Plan must be made permanent and must reflect increased food costs.

“The findings highlight the positive impact of SNAP in combatting food insecurity, but the key to continued program effectiveness is to assure that the program meets the growing demands and rising costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, while putting a sharper focus on reducing racial/ethnic inequities,” said Marc Cohen, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston and a co-author of both briefs. Other authors include LTSS Center Fellow Jane Tavares and NCOA’s Susan Silberman and Lauren Popham.

The study focused on people 60 or older and used data from the 2008 recession to extrapolate the pandemic’s long-term impact. Researchers found that individuals facing food scarcity after the historic recession were younger (60 to 70 years old), female, minority, less educated, in poorer health, and living in poverty. The findings also show that many older adults were still working while dealing with food scarcity during the recession, a pattern that is also likely to emerge in the post-pandemic world.

Older women had 1.2 times higher odds of reporting food insecurity than older men, according to the findings. Non-Hispanic Black older adults and Hispanic older adults had 1.6 times and 1.2 times higher odds of facing food insecurity than their white non-Hispanics counterparts.

“It is reasonable to assume that many of the negative impacts experienced during the Great Recession will occur on a larger scale during the current pandemic-related downturn,” the study states. “While all groups will experience increases in poverty and food insecurity during a recession, older women and racial/ethnic minorities, as well as those with less financial resources, will be hardest hit.”