05/27/2026
For years, policymakers have measured public benefits programs by how many people they serve. But another number matters just as much: how many people they miss.
A new analysis by the New York Health Foundation, Understanding the SNAP Participation Gap in New York, estimates that nearly 877,000 low-income New Yorkers who are likely eligible for SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—are not enrolled. That means more than one in five potentially eligible New Yorkers are going without help buying food, even as food insecurity rises across the State.
The consequences—both human and financial—are real. The same analysis projects that New York is leaving roughly $1.1 billion in federal SNAP benefits unclaimed every year. This means local businesses are missing out on this spending and economic activity as well.
SNAP is only part of the story.
Across the country, millions of Americans who qualify for public benefits—including Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicare Savings Programs—don’t get them. The National Council on Aging recently estimated that 9.1 million older adults eligible for SNAP are not enrolled, along with 3.6 million eligible for SSI and 6.6 million eligible for Medicare Savings Programs. Together, older adults are missing out on an estimated $58 billion in assistance that could help pay for food, medicine, rent, and other essentials.
Why are people missing out on health and food benefits? There are lots of reasons and some are more easily fixed than others:
Lack of awareness and information. Some people don’t know about the programs, don’t know where to turn to get enrolled, or mistakenly assume they do not qualify. Others assume the programs are “for someone worse off.” Older adults, especially, can incorrectly believe they are ineligible because they own a home, have modest retirement savings, or receive Social Security.
Daunting application processes. Program integrity is essential for publicly funded benefits, but enrolling (and staying enrolled) is harder than it should be. Needless barriers can include confusing rules, burdensome paperwork, repeated recertification requirements, language barriers, technology challenges, and transportation problems. Limited multilingual support can further complicate enrollment. There has been progress in linking some government databases and using technology to collect and verify information, but we can do better. Missing one form or deadline can mean losing benefits and starting over.
Stigma. Some eligible people may feel shame about receiving public benefits, despite having paid taxes their entire working lives and despite meeting the rules established by government itself. Some worry about being judged. Others fear immigration consequences about “public charge” rules.
Uneven incentives and penalties. The federal government calculates “error rates” in complicated and various ways for different programs. Generally, states get financially penalized for improperly enrolling someone in Medicaid, but they do not face direct financial fines for incorrectly denying eligible people (though they must correct the error). Error rates are usually the product of administrative and paperwork mistakes and often reflect incorrect payment amounts; it is not a measure of fraud.
Recent federal policy changes will make enrollment and retention even harder. Provisions in H.R. 1 could place more than 300,000 New York households at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP benefits by the end of 2026. Similarly, the New York City Board of Health recently adopted a resolution warning that H.R. 1 threatens to strip health insurance from New Yorkers through new Medicaid work requirements, administrative mandates, and funding reductions.
Whether or not eligible people receive their benefits can be the difference between health or illness. Food insecurity is associated with higher rates of chronic disease, worse mental health, and higher health care costs. The National Council on Aging points to stark evidence that economic insecurity shortens lives: older adults earning $20,000 or less annually die years earlier than those with substantially higher incomes.
As with all complex problems, there is no single or simple solution. Outreach, education, and navigation assistance are logical places to start. New York’s Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP) has demonstrated how effective enrollment assistance can be. NOEP navigators contacted nearly 160,000 potentially eligible households and helped enroll more than 30,000 households between 2024 and 2025. Yet federal outreach funding was cut substantially beginning in 2026.
If government creates programs to reduce hunger, improve health, and stabilize families, those programs must be accessible in practice, not just on paper. Eligibility alone is not enough; a truer measure of success is whether people get the help for which they qualify.
By David Sandman, President and CEO, New York Health Foundation
