Food Stamp Payment Errors Reportedly Found By USDA 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), reportedly found an “unprecedented” number of errors were made in the payment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits between 2020 and 2022.

Food Stamp Payment Errors Reportedly Found By USDA (PHOTO: Straight Arrow News)

Food Stamp Payment Errors

The USDA has released overpayment and underpayment error rates for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for the 2022 fiscal year coming from the program’s extensive quality control process.

USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean stated in a statement that SNAP played a critical role throughout the pandemic that helps several people to have access to food and prevented hunger from skyrocketing across the country. However, the food stamp payment errors coming out of the pandemic reflect the challenging circumstances under which the state agencies were operating, and from which many are continuing to recover.

The food stamp payment error rates are not synonymous with fraud but the SNAP payment error rate is a measure of how accurately states determine eligibility and benefit amounts.

USDA reported that it is one piece of the broader SNAP Quality Control System, which is one of the most concentrated of all federal programs. Payment errors are largely due to unintentional mistakes by either the state agency or a household that result in a state determining an applicant is eligible when they are not or incorrectly calculating a participant’s benefit amount.

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SNAP Beneficiaries Nationwide Were Overpaid And Underpaid, USDA Say

A USDA states that around 10 percent of SNAP beneficiaries nationwide experience overpayment in government benefits during a certain period. These food stamp payment errors were not limited to overpayments, as a minority of beneficiaries also received underpayments.

On average, 9.84 percent of recipients were overpaid, while close to 2 percent were underpaid. Consequently, the government’s average error rate in SNAP payments amounted to nearly 12 percent.

The state of Alaska stands out as having the highest overpayment rate in the nation, with an alarming 56 percent of SNAP recipients being overpaid. Also, in Maryland, almost one in every three SNAP recipients obtained overpayments.

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