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WHAT INFORMATION IS NEEDED? 10 Welfare Program Eligibility In addition to information about current and past participation and benefits, household surveys need to collect data to enable analysts to estimate program eligibility. Measures of program eligibility are needed to calculate program participation rates, which are important to monitor to determine if, for example, an increase in the number of participants is more likely due to an expansion in the pool of people who are eligible for benefits or to increased applications due to such factors as increased outreach by program officials. Program eligibility measures are also needed to simulate the effects of proposed changes to programs (e.g., increases in benefits that might increase participation among currently eligible people or changes in eligibility provisions themselves that might increase or decrease caseloads and costs). Finally, program eligibility measures are needed to evaluate the accuracy of reported program participation (e.g., some people who report benefits may not appear to be eligible). Even in the past, eligibility for such programs as AFDC was difficult to estimate with available survey data: for example, the data often did not clearly distinguish subsets of family members who were eligible for benefits within a household that was not eligible for benefits as a whole. In the new program environment, the data requirements for accurate estimation of eligibility are even greater. A range of information is needed, including: residency history (e.g., whether a person recently moved from another state); household living arrangements (e.g., whether a teenage parent lives at home); health and disability status; immigrant status; time spent receiving assistance; and detailed work experience, including the types of jobs and hours worked. Improved measures of health and disability status for both adults and children will be particularly important to collect for accurate simulation of eligibility for SSI and other assistance that is tied to work-based programs (see Adler, 1996). Data are also needed to permit accounting for the various exemptions to eligibility requirements, which may affect a substantial fraction of the caseload. For instance, 20 percent of the adult caseload and all child-only cases are not subject to the 5-year time limit on benefits under the TANF block grant, and some categories of immigrants are eligible for TANF assistance (e.g., refugees are eligible for assistance for at least 5 years, while lawful permanent residents are eligible with 40 qualifying quarters of work).8 Workshop participants expressed concern that devolution will complicate the measurement of program eligibility from national household surveys. Not only are there new federally mandated restrictions on program eligibility, but states may also impose added eligibility criteria, which may differ across programs and substate areas and may change over time. Child Care Because a prime goal of PRWORA is to move welfare recipients into the workforce, child care subsidies are likely to be a major component of state welfare programs. Although such surveys as SIPP have regularly collected information on child care arrangements and their costs to households, more information will be required under PRWORA. Specificially, information is needed on the sources of financing, including not only households' out-of-pocket costs, but also such sources as vouchers and direct state payments to providers. It would also be useful to have some indicators of quality of care (e.g., type of facility, family involvement, adult- child ratio). 8 The detailed information for immigrants, such as legal status or refugee status, that is necessary to determine program eligibility for TANF and other programs may be difficult to obtain in a household survey.
