SNAP, SNAP, SNAP! We all know about this program that helps many people buy food, right? Of course, this is a very positive idea, but, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the system is seriously failing. The thing is that thousands of people who already died continue receiving benefits, so many people are receiving double payments and many fraud cases have been discovered.
What’s more, the USDA is trying to fix everything while beneficiaries are waiting for their payments to continue as normal after the government shutdown. So, Let’s find out more about this situation.
A broken system
The USDA announced that at least 186,000 deceased people keep appearing as if receiving SNAP payments. The Agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said that this proves the system is broken and that this number only represents 29 states, most of them “red states.” This means the total number could be much higher if all states were checked.
The big issue with the program
Apart from the issue of the deceased people, the USDA found out even serious failures on the system:
- Half million people receive double payment: Rollins confirmed it’s believed that about 500,000 people are receiving their payments twice. This may happen because of system failures or intentional abuse. Whatever it is, it means that millions of dollars are wrongly sent every month.
- Fraud cases: they have also found thousands of fraud cases in SNAP benefits, for example, someone had 6 EBT cards in 6 different states! Of course this can only happen when misused. Rollins explained that for many years, the federal government did not have the right tools to detect this type of problem. Now they do, and they are finding more and more cases.
So far, the USDA has arrested 120 people for abusing the program and committing fraud. Rollins said that this is probably “just the tip of the iceberg,” meaning that many more cases will likely be found later. She even described SNAP as the “most corrupt, dysfunctional” program in U.S. history because of all these issues.
Importance of this benefit
We should remember what SNAP is in case someone doesn’t know. Basically, every month more than 41 million people receive SNAP benefits (about $190 per month) to help low income families buy food. The money is sent to beneficiaries’ EBT cards, which are similar to debit cards, and they can use them at supermarkets and farmers markets.
And what can you buy with this benefit? Fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, milk, other dairy products, bread, cereals, and snacks. However, you CAN’T buy: alcohol, cigarettes, hot prepared foods, and cooking utensils.
After the government shutdown
As you may have heard, the government was shut for a long time and it has affected many services of the country, and SNAP payments have too. Beneficiaries have been weeks without receiving money because of this, so you can imagine how difficult these weeks have been for them. However, on November 13, the USDA announced that every state must pay the maximum amount of benefits for the month to make up for lost days.
In some states like Arkansas and West Virginia, the payments have already been restarted. But other states, like Maryland, will restart benefits today!
So…
The USDA says it is working hard to fix these issues, and it has already begun taking action. Meanwhile, families are finally receiving their benefits again after a long and stressful wait due to the government shutdown.
The challenge now is to make the SNAP program more accurate, more secure, and more helpful for those who truly depend on this food benefit.