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Food stamp fraud fight heats up in Michigan

(Alternative News)With state aid at a record high, crackdown on misuse is debated..With a record number of Michiganians on food stamps, state lawmakers are concerned about fraud and are pushing legislation to head off potential misuse. Catherine Jun / The Detroit News
But critics fear some of the reforms, like drug testing food stamp recipients and putting their photo IDs on the state-issued Bridge Cards used to receive those benefits, would run counter to federal regulations, stigmatize welfare recipients and cost the state more than what would be recovered.

A package of bills was introduced in the state House this spring and is awaiting action.

Last year, investigations uncovered $5.17 million in fraud, more than double that in 2004. Since then, fraud has fallen, but the debate remains over how best to cast a safety net while blocking those seeking a free ride. As online applications and phone interviews have eased the way for a record number of families to apply, critics worry that a new wave of fraud is yet to come.

More than 1.7 million Michiganians are on food stamps, an 85 percent increase since 2004.

"As we make it easier to get it, it's easier to get it illegally," said state Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, one of the bill sponsors.

Advocates for the poor say such moves would cause shame at store checkout lines, at a time when many are new to welfare. Such laws, they contend, could violate federal law that requires retailers to treat the redemption of food stamps the same as a cash transaction.

"I fear that some of these things would further hurt families and bring back the stigma," said Sharon Parks, outgoing president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services, a Lansing-based advocacy group.

Stacie Clayton, 30, said she never expected to be on welfare. The mother of two reluctantly applied for food stamps last June when she and her fiance lost their jobs within weeks of each other. When she goes shopping, Clayton said, she discretely uses her Bridge Card.

"I'm so embarrassed. At the grocery store, I try to swipe it as fast as I can and put it back in my purse," said Clayton, who has since moved into a house in Detroit with her fiance's grandparents. "In college, I never would have thought this was the situation I would be in."
State ranks fifth in U.S.

Michigan ranked fifth among states in dollars defrauded in the federal food stamp program in 2008, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's up from eighth among states in 2004, when the state's food welfare rolls were thinner, data shows.

Food-stamp abuse makes up a third of detected welfare fraud in Michigan -- largely due to the sheer volume of Michiganians on food assistance, state officials say -- exceeded only by day care and child care reimbursements.

Looking at states with more stringent oversight of their benefit plans, several Republicans in the Michigan Legislature proposed in March ways to tighten Bridge Card policies, including imprinting the cards with people's photos and requiring retailers to verify the shopper by requiring another form of identification.

"There's no ID required, so we've got some people trading these, sometimes for drugs," said Rep. Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, the lead on the bill package. "I've been asked for my ID when I use my credit card or debit card. It seems like it ought to be more along that line because that's exactly what it is."

Opponents say there is little proof that such policing methods work.

In California, New York and Texas, state dollars are being spent on fingerprint imaging to prevent duplicating benefits. But no state has submitted to an independent audit to determine the cost-effectiveness of these efforts, according to the California Food Policy Advocates, a public policy group in Oakland, Calif.
Limited resources an issue

Officials at the Michigan Department of Human Services, the agency that administers the federal food stamp program statewide, point out that money lost through fraudulent transactions has decreased in recent years. In 2009, investigations uncovered $5.17 million in fraud, down from a high of $6.82 million in 2007.

And much of the decrease is attributed to investigations conducted as early as during eligibility screening. Caseworkers in Michigan's five largest counties turn over suspicious applications to the Office of Inspector General. In 2009, this method identified $9.3 million in potential fraud.

The department has estimated it would cost up to $6 per card to add photo identification and would tax its already limited resources, said Barbara Anders, deputy director of the department's financial and quality services.

"We would like to, but like everything else, we don't have enough resources to do that," said Gisgie Gendreau, department spokeswoman.

Michigan reported the fourth most prosecutions of food stamp fraud in 2008, and authorities recouped an average of $4.90 for each dollar spent on investigations, according to federal and state records.

In Lansing, the proposed laws have revived the debate over who is deserving of welfare. The bills propose to deny food stamps to applicants with child support arrearages, those failing proposed random drug tests, and college students who are claimed by a parent as dependents on federal income taxes.

"We drug test people for employment. Why don't we drug test people receiving welfare?" said state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge.
Some boast of abusing card

On Facebook, a group called Bridge Card has gathered 111 members, whose postings include comments about defrauding the state's food stamp program. A single woman from Livonia offered a grocery shopping trip with her Bridge Card in exchange for cash. A man from Swartz Creek bragged about buying food on his card, freeing up his own cash to buy an iPod.

"The only people that think they're getting screwed are the ones who are finally realizing that they wish they had thought of getting a bridge card and never did," one writer boasts.

Another poster, Sara Capraro of Milford Township, railed against those who boasted about abusing the program. Capraro said food stamps have been feeding her, her fiance and baby since her fiance lost his landscaping job after a back injury last year.

"It disgusts me," said Capraro, 23. "They're just using the system and we're here struggling."

Gendreau, the Human Services department spokeswoman, disputed claims that use of Bridge Cards by teenagers on college campuses is widespread. Less than 2 percent of Michigan's college students are on food stamps, amounting to less than 1 percent of the state's recipients, according to state records.

Many recipients listed as students are actually parents and adults working part-time who have returned to the classroom for job retraining, state data show.

Jackie Doig, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Civil Justice, said that several bills before the Legislature would broadly disqualify groups of people regardless of whether they are in need of food.

"It appears to me that they're trying to eliminate the ability of some low-income, very deserving people to get food assistance that they need to make ends meet," said Doig, who works at the Saginaw agency that helps families determine welfare eligibility.

Source The Detroit News

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Comments

0 #2 2010-10-11 20:32

I know personally of the use of my grandson's name/ ss number so his drug addict mother could received welfare benefits since 2005. In 2010 we became aware she was using his name and his information though she has had no custody since he was two years old. The OIG has begun an investigation when we made a welfare fraud complaint after being notified by his school district that he was eligible for reduced price lunches since he was getting food stamps. Say Wha....

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0 #1 2010-10-08 01:25

i have seen the misuse of the foodstamp program there are people stocking there party stores with foodstamp purchased food . i must say the lady that purchased 137.00 worth of pop and deposit is included was the worst,or they dump out pop cash in bottles and buy cigs & alchol thanks to my tax dollars. pop,red bull are not good for the health of people sitting around waiting for jobs but i hear you can buy it on your food card at meijer and walmart and again get deposit back in cash so you can get your smokes and beer thanks to the foodstamp card. there are some people that accually make meals and buy fruits and veggies and then there are those that just buy too much junk there should be limits like the wic program. too much waste

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