Posted on 05/04/2018 7:23:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For three years, Tovia O'Neal simultaneously received food stamps, cash welfare, and Medicaid benefits in both Texas and New Mexico. Using a relative’s address, she raked in nearly $50,000 in benefits from New Mexico alone, on top of the welfare benefits she received in Texas. An investigation prompted by the Office of Inspector General led to a 2012 indictment and eventual plea agreement.
Sadly, stories like O’Neal’s are far too common. Thousands of individuals across the country receive welfare benefits in states they no longer live in, in states they’ve never lived in, or even in multiple states at once.
Years ago, the federal government set up the Public Assistance Reporting Information System, or PARIS, to help catch some of these issues. But as the Department of Health and Human Services reports, state participation is “limited” and the system’s effectiveness is “inconsistent.” Many states don’t use the system at all for food stamps, and auditors warn that the information in the system is incomplete. Even when states participate, the system only flags individuals receiving benefits in multiple states after the fraud has already occurred.
Recognizing the limits of the existing system, five southeastern states banded together to try a new approach. These states, led by Mississippi, created the National Accuracy Clearinghouse to share eligibility data with each other. When an individual applies for food stamps in Mississippi, welfare offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana get notified, and vice versa. Instead of trying to chase after fraudsters who were already collecting benefits in multiple states, the new system was designed to stop the fraud from happening in the first place.
The results have been remarkable. In Mississippi, for example, the new system cut down on more than 80 percent of cases where an individual was enrolled in food stamps
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I notice that an actual employer at a real job hardly ever issues two paychecks to the same employee. I wonder why.
Stop all Welfare immediately, no more checks.
This is a waste of time and money.
GO TRUMP!
What do you suppose the next Obama will do to a fraud detection program the minute he is elected.
The Welfare system is designed to allow maximum spending without auditing.
In a true system, no one would have to be notified. The system would automatically do the search and report a possible problem.
This is easy to fix. Turn it over to the Credit Bureau. They can find information on anyone, anywhere, at any time.
And... nothing says that all of the new sign-ups were new recipients. With this story, it seems like many of the new recipients could easily have been double payment fraudsters.
All former Confederate States. And four of these five voted for Barry Goldwater in LBJ's landslide win in 1964.
This is obviously a racist plot to keep people of color from opening businesses and voting in multiple states.
It is also interesting that these are contiguous states.
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana ...........................Southern Red States!.................
I worked as a front line welfare caseworker for a few years back in the 80s.
There was one group you could count on to be engaged in this kind of systematic fraud—Samoans. They would establish 3 or 4 locations for extended families in different states, ship the kids around to each of them, and collect welfare in each state. Practically every time.
I learned the truth of the saying that welfare is for the greedy, not the needy. The people who were truly needy were often not savvy enough to manipulate the system to get benefits.
My experience went a long way to turning me into a conservative.
My secretary shared the reception window with the welfare secretary. The welfare secretary quit after comparing her 40/hrs wk paycheck to her clients’.
The entire welfare system is designed to trap you into the system! Once on the dole, any change (ANY CHANGE) in income automatically stops almost all, if not all, of your benefits until you reapply for said benefits using your updated income numbers (even though you have not received a single paycheck yet...you just go hired, you must report that you now have a job...and the system kicks you out of all of your benefits...even though you have not gotten paid yet)!
If our system was designed as a hand-UP instead of a hand-OUT, then the system would allow for a measured decrease in benefits as you step UP in personal income and capabilities. It would be designed so that ultimately you would step OFF of the dole...but, incrementally. Instead it is an ALL or NOTHING kind of mind set that scares people into staying on the dole and working off the books!
My sister-in-law, after her husband passed away, became a widow under the age of 30, with three children at home. She went on the dole...lived in a three bedroom, two bath, two car garage home which WE PAID FOR...while I was barely getting by with my wife, four daughters and making nearly $100k a year! I did her taxes one year and she was getting back four times what she actually EARNED that year, and I was paying another $3000, in unpaid taxes!
I told her, her “earned income credit” is basically me writing this $3000 check, directly to her!! THAT was the eye-opening that caused her to become more conservative and she worked her way up and off the system (with FAMILY and CHURCH help (which is how it should be), instead of Government hand-outs)! She has one kid graduated from school and working in a veterinarian office (something she always wanted to do), her second child is enrolled in his Junior year at University of North Texas, and her youngest is a sophomore in high school. She is the printing department manager for a payroll services company.
She has came a very long way from her “on the dole” days!! And she is fourth generation Mexican-American!!
My sister is on SSI. The gov’t does not allow more then $2,000 in savings. If she goes over she has money deducted from the SSI check even if she is saving from that money.
If on social security you also get penalized for working even though you are paying taxes into the system.
The gov’t wants you dependent.
Can’t help but wonder why welfare payments aren’t handled the same way unemployment claims are. I only received unemployment for a short period of time in 50+ years but we were required to submit reports of our job searches - with phone numbers etc., for verification of same. This was in CA in the 90’s.. Does CA still require that verification and do other states require it? Every recipient should be made to SHOW UP frequently at a welfare office to renew claims for benefits - no show - no check!!!
So what happened to this fraudster? Didn’t find it in the article..... I know - she was hired by a democrat congressman to do IT work in his DC office!
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