Ensuring Proper Verification of Welfare Recipients
By State Representative Marsha Haefner, 95th DistrictĀ
The number of Missourians on welfare has increased rapidly over recent years, and so too has the cost for taxpayers. Ā On Thursday, the House passed House Bill 1795, which will help to combat fraud and waste and ensure those receiving benefits are truly in need. The bill allows the Department of Social Services to hire a third-party vendor to verify that applicants are eligible for programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary and Needy Families program (TANF), Missouri HealthNet, and others as well as to ensure that those already on the programs are still eligible.
While the Department of Social Services only has access to government databases in determining eligibility for these programs, a third-party vendor has the ability to access credit bureaus, legal research, and other databases to make a determination. Under this bill, vendors will conduct data matches to verify income, resources, assets, employment, and more for recipients on a quarterly basis. Vendors will also be tasked with tracking records for people who have passed away, moved out of state, or have been incarcerated. This system will provide a more thorough evaluation of welfare recipients and applicants and crack down on fraud in these programs.
Outside vendors will only verify applicants and recipients for eligibility and will report any irregularities for further investigation by the department. This will free up case workers to spend more time managing cases and less time chasing down information for verification.
Outsourcing the verification process will improve efficiency and save the taxpayers money. Millions of dollars in fraudulent payments will be saved each year. Several other states are already ahead of Missouri in the verification process. Recently, Illinois found 120,000 people on their welfare programs that didnāt qualify, while flagging another 240,000 as potentially ineligible. These kinds of cost-savings will help make sure that taxpayer money is going only to those who qualify.
The Department of Social Services is already accepting bids from different verification vendors. We owe it to our citizens to quickly and efficiently get those in need the help they deserve. We also need to have as strong a system of verification as possible so that those attempting to defraud our taxpayers are unsuccessful. Under this bill, I believe we have accomplished our goals and am happy to see our state improving efficiency, saving taxpayer money, and safeguarding our government assistance programs from abuse.