Watchdog Finds Zero Major Overpayments In Food Stamps, $17 Million Overpayments In Farm Programs

[n2doc]

BY ALAN PYKE

Crop insurance and rural farm development programs issued over $17 million in high-dollar improper payments during the 2012 fiscal year, but the five food assistance programs conservatives frequently criticize as fraud-riddled issued exactly zero such payments. The numbers come from a report released Wednesday by the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Inspector General report.

In total, the USDA reported 239 separate high-dollar overpayments with a total value of $20.3 million across all its programs. The federal crop insurance program misspent $14.6 million in 70 different high-dollar overpayments, and programs that provide conservation resources to farmers misspent $2.7 million in 53 different overpayments. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and four other anti-hunger aid programs targeted at the poor reported zero high-dollar overpayments.

The USDA review targeted “high-dollar overpayments,” which are defined as payments at least 50 percent above the correct amount and totaling at least $5,000 to an individual or $25,000 to an organization. That makes the report an imperfect dragnet, which in turn means the report is unlikely to prevent opponents of the food stamp programs from continuing to claim that anti-hunger spending is rife with “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Those talking points have survived years of evidence that food assistance is in fact among the most efficient and least erroneous federal aid programs, especially as compared to farm programs.

Wednesday’s report is just the latest peak on that mountain of evidence. The fraud rate in food stamps is down to just one percent from four percent in the early 1990s. Crop insurance programs have an erroneous payment rate of 4.7 percent, while food stamps makes erroneous payments just 3.8 percent of the time. Error rates for SNAP are at an all-time low.

more

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/06/2581861/watchdog-finds-major-overpayments-food-stamps-17-million-farm-programs/

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Ugh, truly stupid comparison.

Individual food aid programs like SNAP, WIC, etc. dole out small cash value assistance and it would be an extraordinary circumstance that one recipient would be issued even the minimum overpayment threshold in this comparison.

However, the fact that the error rate is lower for SNAP is a good talking point, as is the fact that errors in crop insurance and other farm subsidy programs result in larger cash value errors per recipient.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Good point. That shows the priorities.

[Half-Century Man]

3. The priorities

1. Shovel money at the un-needy as fast as inhumanly possible

2. Dole out a pittance to the needy with slow methodical eye-dropper precision.

3. Blame the victims of predatory capitalism for (surviving long enough to) asking for help and the drudgery of slow methodology.

[n2doc]

5. 1b. Get campaign contributions and other bribes from un-needy n/t

[Half-Century Man]

6. Yes, I failed to document both sides of the basic plan.

I was focused on one side...warui...

[Rebellious Republican]

4. I understand your sentiment, K&R.

[Iliyah]

7. Kansas will be kicking approx. 20,000 off of snap

the reason why just because and plus the 1%ers need to eat.

[malaise]

8. Oops!

We do know the real thieves - they attack everyone else.

[Scuba]

9. Facts don't matter. The media is owned by the oligarchs who love taking food from the poor.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. kick

[Puzzledtraveller]

11. I've been a SNAP caseworker since 2009

I can find a claim for overpayment every day if I want to. They happen all the time. Sometime it is due to intentional program violations and sometimes it is considered agency error. I was averaging about 5 claims per week, almost always for overpayment due to unreported income or household members with income who were not reported to the agency. My state will and has prosecuted, many client receive a penalty if overpayment is found by the claims department. I had one client who did not report the father of two common children living in the home who earned 3 times what I earned in a month. She is now required to pay it back, for example.

[Wilms]

12. ^