Can We Automate the Safety Net?

Each year, millions of Americans who qualify for public benefits fail to receive them.

Consider health insurance: in 2022, around 15 million people, the bulk of the uninsured population, went without health insurance coverage despite being eligible for free or subsidized coverage through either Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces.

This same dynamic exists in other public benefit programs. In a given year, roughly 7 million eligible Americans don’t participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and another 5 million don’t claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

These missed benefits add up. Forgone EITC benefits total approximately $7 billion each year. They also address vital needs. Missing out on SNAP benefits means that kids might go hungry. Whether one has health insurance coverage can be a matter of life and death.

So why do so many eligible people lose out on benefits?

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One explanation has to do with how programs are administered. Most public benefit programs in the United States require people to opt-in. That means they have to learn about the program, determine whether they qualify, gather the necessary documentation, complete the application, and navigate whatever extra administrative burdens the agency requires, such as an in-person interview or employer verification.

At each step of this process, eligible people fall away. They miss deadlines, lose paperwork, become confused by complex rules, or simply lack the time or know-how to navigate a burdensome process while managing the daily challenges of poverty. What’s worse, means-tested programs require regular redeterminations in which recipients must prove their eligibility anew.

The result is a safety net that catches some but lets many slip through. The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) only compounds this proble…