The use of food stamps has soared in the D.C. region, but so has the cost of fraud, and Maryland now ranks second in the country in misappropriated food assistance funding. The number of people receiving food stamps in Maryland has more than doubled since 2007 to nearly 677,000 as of April, or about 11 percent of the state’s population, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Virginia, use grew by 75 percent — more than doubling in Fairfax County alone. In the District, two of every 10 residents now use food stamps, up by a third since before the recession.
The food stamp program more than doubled to $65 billion annually over the last five years and abuse and fraud now account for $2 billion of that, the USDA reports. The causes range from simple computer glitches to outright lying by applicants.
Nationally, $3.53 of every $100 in assistance goes to someone who shouldn’t get it, either because he or she earns too much or is no longer eligible. That is a record low rate, though the rapid expansion of the program significantly increased the effect of those losses on the program. Congressional Republicans, eager to slash federal spending, cited the losses in demanding cuts to the food stamp program.
Maryland ranks second in the nation when it comes to losses because of improper payments, according to 2009 data, the latest available. Only Texas lost more. For every $100 in benefits, Maryland paid $5.66 to people who weren’t eligible. Virginia ranked seventh nationally with a rate of $4.68. The District actually lost the least, $3.35 per $100.
Maryland has since been penalized $350,000 by the federal government for its mistakes and is required to use that money to improve its payment system.
The states have recouped only part of those overpayments. In the first quarter of this year, Virginia got back $1.8 million of the $13.4 million it overpaid. Maryland got back just $572,000 of the $10 million it overpaid.
Officials say the level of fraud may be higher than perceived because states don’t have the resources to weed out all offenders. USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong told Congress in June that state fraud reports “contained unreliable and unverified data.” Investigators could be doing more with existing resources, she said.
Food stamp trafficking, the illegal practice of exchanging food stamps for cash, poses further problems, costing about $1 for every $100 in assistance, according to the USDA. But only the most heinous cases actually make it to court, and many of the retailers who are sanctioned are eventually allowed to rejoin the food stamps program.
In the Washington area, 55 retailers were sanctioned for food stamp trafficking or for allowing people to buy ineligible goods like cigarettes and liquor over the last five years. In the District alone, 21 retailers were sanctioned over the last five years, and 12 of them were reinstated after changing management or paying a fine.
Even as Congress considers slashing the program, social-service organizations are pressing to spare it, saying the recession has made food stamps more important than ever.
“Food stamps are a miracle of public policy,” said Alexandra Ashbrook, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions. “They are the number one reason why we don’t see higher rates of food insecurity in this country. They’re why we don’t see abject hunger.”
