Since Illinois has seen an explosion in the number of people receiving food stamps, even a slight error costs taxpayers millions.
In this instance, a mistake rate of less than 2 percent means $50 million is misspent.
That’s the hard truth behind the press release lauding Illinois for having a 98.3 percent accuracy rate for its Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
Illinois’ error rate, from either overspending on food stamps or not spending enough, is 1.74 percent, according to Januari Smith, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Human Services.
Just more than 2 million people in the state, or 16 percent of the population, are enrolled in the federally managed SNAP. Washington D.C,. sent Illinois $3 billion for SNAP last year.
The numbers: 1.74 percent of $3 billion is $52 million. That’s a lot of taxpayer waste. ...More HERE