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Alaska looks to improve SNAP benefit policy after USDA penalty

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Deb Etheridge News

Alaska Department Of Health,Anchorage,Alaska Sued By USDA For Food Stamp SNAP Issues

Alaska is facing a heavy fee for inaccurately determining eligibility for food stamp benefits, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.

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In the letter, the USDA states that under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, a 2-year liability system was established to require the USDA to determine an amount when there’s a 95% statistical probability that a state’s payment error rate will exceed 105% of the national performance measure. “We made sort of a measured correction to try to stop the backlog and we again, extended certification periods from six to 12 months,” said Etheridge. “The benefits that were issued during those extended times were considered an overpayment … it’s not to say that the benefits issued in error weren’t correct, it’s just that the policy that we applied was not correct.”

“Today, if you look at our SNAP, we are processing SNAP applications, re-certifications, timely, and so we’re in a much better space,” said Etheridge. “We’ll start to see we’ll continue to see some errors through the first quarter of fiscal federal fiscal year 25, or even the first quarter of calendar year 2225 because those certification periods were extended out for those additional months. We’re not anticipating being fully compliant, looking retrospectively, but we are much better right now.

 

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