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- OPINION
State stumbles on anti-fraud efforts for food stamps, welfare-to-work
November 10th, 2009, 5:00 am · 34 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
If one wants to game the system, Los Angeles County may be the place to be. Potential cheats face a tougher time in Orange and San Diego counties - but California in general is in a bit of a dither when it comes to detecting fraud in its $6.4 billion welfare programs, according to the California State Auditor (welfare-fraud-full-report).
Some anti-fraud programs actually cost more than they save.
A STITCH IN TIME…
The good news: For every $1 spent on early fraud detection (i.e., nipping it in the bud as people apply) for welfare-to-work, California saves $1.35.
The bad news: For every $1 spent on early fraud detection for food stamps, California saves, um, 93 cents.
Whoops. These early detection programs cost the state $28 million.
…SAVES NINE
The picture is bleaker for late fraud detection (i.e., mounting investigations to see if aid recipients are cheating), where California spends more - $34 million - and gets less.
For every $1 spent on ongoing investigations on welfare-to-work fraud, the state saved 88 cents.
For every $1 spent investigating food stamp fraud, it saved 72 cents.
Gathering evidence for ongoing investigations costs lots, the auditor says.
FURTHERMORE….
- Counties sometimes fail to match their welfare rolls against regularly-updated lists of people who are ineligible for benefits.
- Large backlogs of duplicate-aide fraud cases are languishing.
- Counties regularly forward erroneous data to the state, which forwards it to the federal government.
“This report concludes that neither Social Services nor the six counties we visited have performed any meaningful analysis to determine the cost-effectiveness of counties’ antifraud efforts,” says the auditor. “Social Services is also missing opportunites to improve counties’ antifraud efforts because it has not reviewed 25 or the 58 counties, including Los Angeles, over the past three years….” (This might be the place to point out that Los Angeles has 30 percent of the state’s welfare load.)
WHICH WELFARE PROGRAMS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
The welfare‑to‑work program is called CalWORKs, and provides cash assistance to families with eligible children. In 2008, about 480,000households were enrolled in CalWORKs every month, receiving about $3.1 billion. That’s an average grant of $538 per household, per month. (Orange County had 16,719households in CalWORKs, the lowest of the six counties reviewed.)
The food stamp program is different, providing aid that can only be spent on food. In 2008, 961,000 households got food stamps worth $3.3 billion. That’s an average grant of $282 per household, per month. (Orange County had 36,446 households receiving food stamps, the second-lowest of the counties reviewed.)
OC TAKES NO PRISONERS
Orange County, perhaps not incidentally, also had the highest number of investigators per 1,000 active cases.And it recovered far more than the most other counties for its early-detection efforts:
- averaging savings of $2.37 for each $1 spent on early welfare-to-work fraud;
- and savings of $1.82 for each $1 spent on early food stamp fraud.
It even did well nosing out fraud in those complex, expensive investigations of welfare-to-work, saving $1.62 for each $1 spent. It didn’t quite break even with the complex food stamp fraud cases - saving 98 cents for every $1 spent. Los Angeles, generally, tanked. See how the counties compare here:
OC AND SAN DIEGO. HOW DO THEY DO IT?
“The net savings for CalWORKs early fraud activities in Orange and San Diego counties significantly exceed the statewide average, as well as the savings of the other four counties we reviewed,” the auditor says. “Both of these counties reported a disproportionately high number of early fraud referrals for 2008, and both counties had policies in place in 2008 that generated mandatory early fraud referrals.
“According to San Diego County’s policy, it is mandatory for investigators to perform an early fraud interview for every applicant who either has not received aid in the last 12 months in the county or who has received aid within the last 12 months in the county and has an unresolved fraud suspicion against him or her.
“Until 2009 Orange County mandated early fraud referrals based on certain characteristics, such as applicant households that only listed children as eligible recipients and applicants with welfare fraud sanctions. However, due to significant budget cuts, Orange County discontinued its mandatory referrals as of February 2009. It believes that this change has resulted in a drop of more than 50 percent in early fraud referrals.
“Both counties indicated that their policies may account for their disproportionately high numbers of early fraud referrals. For example, although Orange and San Diego counties accounted for approximately 3 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of the State’s CalWORKs program caseload in 2008, they accounted for 11 percent and 17 percent, respectively, of all early fraud referrals for CalWORKs and each county also accounted for 4 percent of the State’s food stamp caseload and each county accounted for 11 percent of early fraud referrals for the food stamp program.”
Another chart to illustrate:
Is the underbelly here that children are going hungry?
“The counties that typically generated the highest measurable net savings in 2008 - Orange and San Diego - not only accepted a high number of early fraud referrals but also had a high percentage of benefit denials, discontinuances, or reductions compared to their early fraud referrals,” the report says.
More Watchdog:
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hmm, Welfare to work work, my back side. People play the system by having another kid every couple of years.
Illegals get welfare. ( legal but fraud ) actually much easier than citizens because they don’t have to show ID
Some people stand outside stores and offer to buy your food at half price for cash.
The average family size for those on welfare is smaller than the average family size for those not on welfare. The data doesn’t back up your mythology.
My guess is prison and deportation if applicable would cut back on this fraud.
I think that welfare fraud should be looked at as not just one crime but, (in the state of california) 20 million crimes, as it is a crime against every tax payer.
How about 1 year in Fulsom State Pen. if you are caught commiting welfare fraud. How about instantaneous deportation if you are caught commiting welfare fraud and you are in the country illegaly.
Prison does nothing hasn’t anyone noticed? They just get back out and do it again. Look up the statistics on repeat offenders! Just shoot the criminals. That should be a good deterrent.
I see that you are so principled that you’ll support cruel and unusual punishment.
oh stop it. octomom made it clear as crystal how easy it is to game the system. the investigators are either lazy or instructed from above to back off and let them game the system. octomom alone heisted us for millions of taxdollars. she was one leech. multiply her by millions. it is incredibly easy to game the system BECAUSE IT IS ENCOURAGED IN MANY CASES!!! The ones handing out these gifts from the taxpayers FEEL SORRY FOR THESE PEOPLE EVEN IF THEY DON’T QUALIFY FOR THE BENEFITS AND GIVE IT TO THEM ANYWAY!!! it’s like a grab-bag. stick your hand in the bag and grab whatever you want. How do you think illegal foreigners get these benefits??? And don’t say they don’t. Millions of them do. Of the taxpayers only knew the truth. The pitchforks and torches would suddenly appear!
Many of the welfare families are single women and the majority are working. When you work a job that pays $12 an hour and you have two children, it’s difficult pay rent, food, and transportation (given the lack of public transit) in Orange County. Before you tell them to leave, think about those jobs that legal migrants are doing that you can’t do without.
Who cares if we spend $1. to save 88 cents. If there was no enforcement, the fraud would be far worse. Think about it the same as traffic enforcement. CHP cuts one car out of a herd and makes a car stop, All the other cars slow down.
Much of this money comes from the Federal Government, so there is little incentive to cut fraud. You have to spend every dime during the year, so that you can get an increase the next.
Oh don’t believe the $0.88 for every dollar invested in fraud detection, Les. They just spew out that statistic to justify not pouring more money into fraud detection so they can give more of our money away to scowflaws without justification. Think about it for a second. Octomom too MILLIONS from us for YEARS! If they went after her and recovered just HALF of what she took from us it would pay the salaries and benefits of 200 investigators for their entire careers!!!! So don’t believe these stats. They should be going after the BIG FISH like Octomom. That’s where the fraud is!!!! And there are THOUSANDS of BIG FISH gaming the system as we type!!! YET NOTHING IS DONE TO STOP THEM!!! The gobblement leaders don’t care ———IT’S YOUR MONEY THEY’RE PLAYING WITH —– NOT THEIRS!!!
All I have to say is do random drug testing for all wellfare and foodstamp recipients.
agreed!! I have suggested this one myself
do away with welfare. it just promotes loserism. go get a job or leave. obviously illegal wetbk mexicans are the prime abuser of our system.
you’re obviously racist. Thanks for playing.
it makes sense. why are we essentially paying people to stay in this state for 2+ years with no job when they could be moving to cheaper parts of the country (or for illegals, back where they emerged from).
They need an 800 number that you can call in tips on fraudsters. Too many out there abusing the system and living a better lifestyle than the former middleclass taxpayer who is taking the brunt of this recession and getting no help from the government because all the help goes to the experts in bilking the system.
There is already an 800#.
Rarely do they follow up.
You are dealing with the gobblement.
They don’t care.
They get paid whether they work or not.
mensxarino- I like your thinking !
Welfare to work is one of the good things Bill Clinton did. CA is one of the only states to do everything they could to get around it. The state of CA has 12% of the population of the US. We have 32% of the Welfare. YES ONE-THIRD. What does that tell you? If you don’t get the problem then you are the problem. The state and those who have run it for 20 years have destroyed it.
Place comprable like Florida, Texas and even NY don’t have as much welfare but DO have similar states and populations.
Make the application forms like income tax documents. Require receipts and documentation. If it isn’t in order when submitted send it back and demand the correct schedules. The average parasite will despair and give up.
I like the welfare to work idea, but CA seems against it. barring that, I had a similar idea as you, saying we should be assessing a person’s full family income, living expenses, disability / SS payments, and assets before handing out such benefits. these have a finite period they can be paid out. if you commit fraud, you get 1 year in jail. commit it again, 5 years in jail. commit it again, 10 years in jail. if you’re not here legally, you’re denied and deported.
and no double dipping. if you get welfare it has to go towards all your expenses, food too. you don’t get food stamps plus welfare plus free school lunches and breakfasts for your kids. it’s too easy to get food stamps. they should be for either the completely destitute, i.e. mentally ill who can never provide for themselves, or those who are temporarily on something like UI just as a bridge.
and if you keep having kids you get to pay for a higher % of their costs. sliding scale. 1 kid, we’ll pay 50% of what it costs to raise a kid, 2 kids, 25%, 3rd kid, 12%, 4th kid, 0%.
I wonder what the results would be if you had to go to your church for your welfare. No state program at all. I think the benefits would be you would have to look your neighbors in the eye who are helping you and they would know if the aid was legiitmate. Also, I think there would be less crime. One would not want to burn bridges by being known as a trouble maker if in a pinch you will have to go to your neighbors for help.
I work for an HSA up here in Northern California. I see the fraud first hand. I would close the whole system down in a New York minute. There would be no such thing as welfare. You want to have a child at 13, go ahead. But, don’t come to me for a handout to have the child. You don’t have any money to buy food? Tough, get a job. The only state agency I would give money to would be the Department of Euthanasia. Who I would direct to visit our prisons and reduce the population to zero to make room for the next infusion of misfits.
The article states OC had the highest number of investigators per every 1000 active cases and recovered far more than most counties. This is based on 2008 staffing levels. What has happened since?
19 investigators were laid off and mandatory referrals were discontinued. OC welfare fraud investigators pay for themselves by keeping our tax dollars out of the hands of thieves. We need them back!!
Illegals get welfare without showing ID. Some of them have a kid a year to get their yearly “raise”. The HSA worker can verify that. A large portion of the 30 billion we spend each year on them is through welfare.
OC did exceptionally well with fraud detection but the study was based on data the ended in 2008. OC had 52 welfare fraud investigators during 2008. OC currently has only 27 welfare fraud investigators. Welfare benefits have increased by over 13% yet while opening the welfare vaults wider than ever SSA and the OC Board of Supervisors layed off 48% of the guards. It makes no sense!
You can bet that 2009 stats won’t be as attractive with referrals for investigations currently at a level that is half of what they were in 2008. SSA also eliminated all five mandatory referral requirements and dismantled several internal welfare fraud detection programs.
Why?! Welfare is necessary but someone has to protect the needy from the greedy and guard our tax dollars! Only people truly in need should receive welfare. Cheats and scam artists should be deterred and whenever possible caught and prosecuted.
DO THE MATH. GET RID OF THE RIDICULOUS PROGRAMS IF THEY HAVE KIDS MAKE EVERYONE WORK> NO MORE HAND OUTS!!!!!!PUNISH THEM IF THEY HAVE MORE KIDS!!!!
This article tells me that maybe the investigators need investigating. My bet is that the quality of people hired in L.A. probably leave a lot to be desired and should probably be investigated by the feds.
O.C. Social Services saw fit to lay off more than half of the investigative staff because the $38M saved on a $5M budget wasn’t their money. The money saved is returned to the state and redistributed. Social Services philosophy is to give anything and everything away so next year we will get more.
The Board of Supervisors was updated regularly on the savings by Welfare Fraud and Social Services plans to eliminate it or render it useless. They to shared the attitude of Its not our money. It is state and fed money. They forget that it is their mismanaged department helping drive CA into bankruptcy.
O.C. Welfare Fraud “WAS” the most aggressive in the state and the money saved shows. These saving do not even include the fraud in Child Care and Mileage reimbursement for Jobs that Social Services refuses to investigate. If it was allowed the savings would rise greatly past the $38M already saved.
Isn’t welfare the whole reason the Democrats are in control in the first place???
Besides welfare what do they do?
So why is it that, given the success of the anti-fraud efforts in Orange County, the Board of Supes in their infinite wisdom lay off or reassign Welfare Fraud Investigators?
We need to give the Welfare Fraud Investigators the tools to do their jobs. Having them there is definitely a plus for us taxpayers!
THIS IS NOT SURPRISING COMING FROM THE
“DO AS WE SAY AND NOT AS WE DO” GOVERNMENT…
REMEMBER… gov⋅ern /ˈgʌvərn/
–verb (used with object)
1. to RULE OVER by RIGHT of AUTHORITY: to govern a nation.
2. to exercise a DIRECTING or RESTRAINING INFLUENCE OVER; guide: the motives governing a decision.
from: Dictionary.com
If you’re having problems with a lot of debt you may need to file for a bankruptcy to help you protect yourself. Finding a bankruptcy attorney can be expensive so make sure that you search around and get a recommendation from a friend or family member. There are attorneys that can help you handle your bankruptcy and they will do it for no fee. If you are at the point where you are filing then you probably do not have a lot of money to begin with. It can be very term at it for you to file for bankruptcy and have to deal with all of the debt that is owed.
No matter how efficiently Orange County controls and stops fraud, Los Angeles will still keep giving away more of your tax dollars than OC and every decent county can ever save. Unless you hold a club over LA’s head like cutting off all funding unless they meet certain performance levels, they do not care how much fraud goes on. It is not their money they are wasting, it is yours and mine. Democrats have ruined this state perhaps beyond repair. They just enacted the largest tax increase ever and four months later, they have spent us into a $21 billion debt again. It is going to take drastic action against the democrats to save our state. Let’s roll!