Estimating Eligibility and Participation for the WIC Program Phase I Report (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 21-29
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From page 21... ...
21 3 Current Methods for Estimating Eligibility and Full-Funding Participation Each year the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) develops estimates of the numbers of people in the nation who are eligible for WIC and who would participate in the program if it is fully funded.
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From page 22... ...
22 ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION FOR THE WIC PROGRAM Income Eligibility Estimation Methods The March Demographic Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) is used to estimate the number of infants and children living in families with annual incomes below 185 percent of poverty, defined by the U.S.
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From page 23... ...
CURRENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY 23 more related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together, including related subfamily members. Estimation issues surrounding these definitions are discussed later in the report.
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From page 24... ...
24 ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION FOR THE WIC PROGRAM (TANF) programs, and no adjustment is made for pregnant and postpartum women who may be adjunctively eligible.5 However, it is possible that many people are eligible for these programs who would not otherwise be eligible for WIC because of differences in eligibility rules (as we discuss later in Chapter 4)
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From page 25... ...
CURRENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY 25 used the 80 percent participation assumption, but rather, has made budget requests with a goal of serving 7.5 million participants. This practice has been criticized as being arbitrary and not supported by data (U.S.
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From page 26... ...
26 ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION FOR THE WIC PROGRAM The table shows that for all eligibility categories, coverage rates have been generally increasing over the 1990s. Pregnant women and children have had the lowest coverage rates, which were both about 50 percent in 1993 and increased to 72 percent for pregnant women and 76 percent for children in 1999.
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From page 27... ...
CURRENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY 27 are collected and made available for use and the time period for which the predictions are being made will always exist, although one hopes that it is small. Economic, policy, demographic, and cultural conditions could change in such a way that the numbers of persons who are eligible and likely to participate change.
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From page 28... ...
28 ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION FOR THE WIC PROGRAM estimated number of participants is based on the estimated number of eligibles. Since the estimated number of eligibles is the denominator for the coverage rate, high prediction error rates could be reflected in high coverage rates if the number of estimated eligibles is underestimated.
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From page 29... ...
CURRENT METHODS FOR ESTIMATING ELIGIBILITY 29 methodology overstated the total number of participants because errors in predicting the number of pregnant women and children were larger in absolute value than the errors in predicting postpartum women and infants. For example, in 1996, the number of children predicted to participate was overestimated by 28.6 percent and the number of pregnant women predicted to participate was overestimated by 44.5 percent.
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