Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Corporate Welfare: JP Morgan Chase has made $560,492,596.02 administering food stamps for the feds

Via Cousin John


I think we have a new definition of the term “corporate welfare.” Banks like JP Morgan Chase are making huge dollars administering the food stamp program for the Federal Government.
According to a new investigation by the Government Accountability Institute, JP Morgan alone has made over half a billion dollars off of the growing welfare program.
from GAO:
  • Three companies – J.P. Morgan EFS, Affiliated Computer Services, and eFunds – provide EBT services for 49 states and 3 US territories.

  • Since 2004, 18 of 24 states who contract with J.P. Morgan to provide welfare benefits have contracted to pay $560,492,596.02. New York alone has a seven-year contract worth $126,394,917.

  • Projected average food stamp spending post-recession will be 175% greater than pre- recession average spending, from $28 billion to $77 billion.

  • Since 2009, 32 states have followed the USDA’s suggestion to use Broad Based Categorical Eligibility “as a way to increase SNAP participation and reduce State workloads.” Changing the rules for eligibility, along with state-level changes in application methods, has contributed to a 70 % increase in food stamp participation from 2007 to 2011.56

  • Lax security by EBT processors and states invites food stamp fraud, often through social media.

  • There are understaffed fraud investigation units at both the federal and state level. For example, Florida has just 63 staff positions to police approximately 3 million EBT users state-wide. These investigators not only handle TANF and SNAP eligibility fraud, but also EBT trafficking, Social Security Disability and Medicaid eligibility fraud, Emergency Financial Assistance for Housing, and Low Income Energy assistance, among many others.

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