llinois Families Study Briefs:
New Findings on Food Insecurity and Health Insurance

Fall 2002, Volume 24, Number 1

Illinois families who have left welfare are faring better over time in some respects, but other indicators point to areas of concern. Findings from the Illinois Families Study, conducted by a consortium of researchers from five Illinois universities and tracking how Illinois families have been faring under welfare reform, show that more children are covered by health insurance since 1999–2000, and food insecurity has not worsened. However, more adults are uninsured.

One of welfare reform’s goals was to encourage families to move from welfare to work and in doing so gain economic independence. Illinois has adopted several features designed to support families during the transition from welfare to work, including stopping the clock on cash assistance time limits when families are working, and extending Medicaid coverage during the first year after leaving welfare for work.

However, even with the extension of Medicaid for an interim, many families who are “playing by the rules” and leaving welfare for work are going without health insurance. Medicaid coverage declined by 11 percentage points among welfare leavers between 1999–2000 and 2001 while employee-sponsored insurance packages increased by only 5 percentage points, resulting in a 6 percentage point rise in the number of uninsured adults (or 25% of respondents). Fewer than half of the working parents said their employer offered coverage, and among those offered coverage, only one-third signed up for it.

The picture is brighter for children of current and former welfare recipients, the study finds. The proportion of children covered by health insurance rose 4 percentage points (9% to 13%) between 1999–2000 and 2001.

“It looks like outreach campaigns to expand coverage for low-income children through KidCare and Medicaid have been somewhat successful in Illinois, said Jane Holl, IPR faculty associate and principal investigator of the Child Well-Being component of the IFS. “It’s now time to turn our attention to the insurance needs of parents. Hopefully some of the lessons learned from insuring low-income children can now be applied to their parents.”

The study also asked families about any difficulties securing enough food. Results indicate no erosion of food security over the two years, with about one-third of the 1,183 respondents reporting food insecurity in both 1999 and 2001, despite drops in TANF and food stamp use. This positive news, however, is tempered by the fact that families who are not working continue to struggle.

Nearly 40% of nonworking families reported food insecurities in 2001, compared with 27% of working families. The authors also point to some troubling indicators of future hardship. Between 1999 and 2001, significantly more families sought informal support from churches and other private charities.

The trends being tracked in the Illinois Families Study are taking place amid, and because of, dramatic changes in public policy in the United States. As Dan Lewis, IPR faculty fellow and principal investigator of the IFS explains, social policy reforms at the end of the twentieth century in America were premised on the notion that large government programs were the cause of, rather than the solution to, many of the most pressing social problems. The new policies, as exemplified by welfare reforms in 1996, have separated individuals from federally supported programs and services. 

“The call for personal responsibility has legitimized inclusionary efforts that place many people at risk of serious hardship, while at the same time freeing them from dependency on governmental services,” Lewis says. 

“Some people will do well under these new arrangements, and some will do poorly. As our economy slows, we anticipate that the labor market will be less capable of absorbing those who need jobs. Those individuals who depended on welfare and public housing will be at substantial risk of food insecurity and homelessness. I hope that the information provided here will allow policymakers to see who is at risk and how that risk changes over time.”

The findings are reported in four new policy briefs, available at www.northwestern.edu/ipr/ research/IFS.html.