Improper Food
Stamp Payments Hit $2.6 Billion
by Caroline May 6 Jul 2016
A single-digit error rate might look good on paper,
but for federal programs with budgets hovering around 70 billion even a
relatively low improper payment rate has high dollar consequences.
A Government Accountability Office report released
Wednesday reveals that the improper food stamp — or Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) — payments made in fiscal year 2014 totaled $2.6
billion, or 3.66 percent of all payments. The report reads:
[F]or the most recent 10 years for which there are SNAP
improper payment rate estimates available (for benefits paid in fiscal years
2005–2014), the national SNAP improper payment rate, combining both
overpayments and underpayments, has declined or stayed the same in all but
fiscal year 2014. For benefits paid in fiscal year 2014—the most recent year
for which data are available—the rate increased to 3.66 percent from a low of
3.20 percent in fiscal year 2013.
While the error rate appears low, the billion dollar
consequences mean that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has
designated food stamps as a high-error program.
“We have reported that Medicaid, [Supplemental Security
Income], and the [Earned Income Tax Credit], together with SNAP, comprise
almost two-thirds of federal low-income obligations,” GAO explains. “These
programs for low-income individuals, along with SNAP, are included in the
federal government’s Payment Accuracy website list of programs with high
improper payments reported to OMB.”
As GAO details, SNAP improper payments are due to both
administrative and recipient error or fraud. In FY 2013, the Department of
Agriculture (USDA), the agency that administers the program,
estimated that 62.44 percent of errors were due to errors by state agencies and
37.27 percent were errors or fraud attributable to recipients.
“According to a September 2012 USDA [Office of Inspector
General] report, the magnitude of program abuse due to recipient fraud is unknown
because states do not have uniform ways of compiling the data that would
provide such information,” the report reads.
Specifically, the accountability agency found that
states’ varying food stamp policies and improper payment calculation
methodology had an impact on the error rates. GAO reports:
For example, when states adopted available policy
flexibilities that simplified or lessened participant reporting requirements,
these changes reduced the opportunity for error and led to a decline in the
improper payment rate, according to a USDA study. Conversely, other changes may
have led to an increase in the improper payment rate. USDA cited the change
from only counting errors over $50 in the rate to counting all errors over $37
as a key factor in an increase in the rate in fiscal year 2014.
Additionally, while USDA and the states GAO sampled have
made efforts to combat food stamp abuse there remain limitations, according to
GAO.
“[A]lthough USDA had increased its oversight of state
anti-fraud activities since fiscal year 2011, GAO found that USDA did not have
consistent and reliable data on states’ activities because its reporting
guidance lacked specificity,” the report reads. “This limited USDA’s ability to
monitor states and find more effective ways to combat recipient fraud.”
U.S. Office of Management and Budget
Christopher
Edley Jr. was an associate director for economics & government for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and is a board of adviser’s
member for the American Constitution
Society.
Note: Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the American Constitution Society.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank).
Ramona E. Romero
was a director at the American
Constitution Society, and is the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Maria Echaveste
was a board of adviser’s member for the American
Constitution Society, William J.
Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, and married to Christopher Edley Jr.
Christopher
Edley Jr. is married to American
Constitution Society, and was an associate director for economics &
government for the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
Preeta Bansal
was a general counsel & senior policy adviser for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and is a fellow at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Daniel R.
Glickman is a director of the Congressional Program for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was
the agriculture secretary at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for the William
J. Clinton administration.
James M. Manyika
is a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank), and a director at McKinsey
& Company.
Chelsea V. Clinton
was an employee at McKinsey & Company, and is the vice
chair for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
McKinsey &
Company was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Beth F. Cobert
is a senior partner at McKinsey &
Company, and a deputy director for the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Eric Braverman
was a partner at McKinsey & Company,
and the CEO for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
William J. Clinton
is the founder of the Bill, Hillary
& Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and was the president of the William J. Clinton administration.
Hillary Rodham
Clinton was a director at the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the First lady for the William J. Clinton administration, a secretary
at the U.S. Department of State for
the Barack Obama administration, and
a friend of Tom Vilsack.
Tom
Vilsack is a friend of Hillary
Rodham Clinton’s friend, and the secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Barack Obama administration.
Barack
Obama is the president for the Barack
Obama administration, and was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
R. Eden Martin is
counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay was an attorney at Sidley Austin
LLP, and is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society.
Christopher
Edley Jr. is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and was an associate director for
economics & government for the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Thomas A. Scully
was an associate director for the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
and an administrator for the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
Sylvia
Mathews Burwell is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was a director
at the U.S. Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), William J. Clinton’s deputy chief of
staff, and an associate at McKinsey
& Company.
McKinsey &
Company was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Beth F. Cobert
is a senior partner at McKinsey &
Company, and a deputy director for the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Chelsea V. Clinton
was an employee at McKinsey & Company, and is the
vice chair for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Daniel R.
Glickman is a director of the Congressional Program for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was
the agriculture secretary at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for the William
J. Clinton administration.
James M. Manyika
is a director at McKinsey & Company,
and a trustee at the Aspen Institute
(think tank).
Preeta Bansal is
a fellow at the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and was a general counsel & senior policy adviser for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Christopher
Edley Jr. was an associate director for economics & government for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and is married to American Constitution Society.
Ramona E. Romero
was a director at the American
Constitution Society, and is the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Christopher
Edley Jr. is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and was an associate director for
economics & government for the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Faith Elizabeth
Gay is a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and was an attorney at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, and is the president for the Barack
Obama administration.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
R. Eden Martin is
counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Dora Hughes is a
senior policy adviser for Sidley Austin
LLP, and was Kathleen Sebelius’s counselor
at the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora Hughes, and was the secretary at
the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama
administration.
Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
Tommy G. Thompson
was a secretary at the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), and a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Daniel R.
Glickman was a senior adviser at Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, the agriculture secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the William J. Clinton administration, and is
a director of the Congressional Program for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is a senior counsel for Akin,
Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Valerie B. Jarrett
is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior
adviser for the Barack Obama
administration, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past
Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
James S.
Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the vice
chairman for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Daniel R.
Glickman is a director of the Congressional Program for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was
the agriculture secretary at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for the William
J. Clinton administration.
R. Eden Martin is
the president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Newton N. Minow
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Dora Hughes is a
senior policy adviser for Sidley Austin
LLP, and was Kathleen Sebelius’s counselor
at the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora Hughes, and was the secretary at
the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama
administration.
Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
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