You fucked up. You eat the loss. It's called accountability.

I certainly agree.

don't "mess up on purpose" in an effort to help their clients.

But I agree with the sentiment.

don't "mess up on purpose" in an effort to pay out food stamps and take the amount back in cold hard cash.

I've met some of that staff, I have had the unfortunate displeasure of meeting some of them in three different states. It's been almost twenty years since I received any kind of assistance, the other times I went with people who were seriously stressed out about having to even talk to that "kind hearted" staff.

Now, perhaps there are exceptions that I have never heard of, seen, met, or even heard whispered of in rumor, but those people that work for DHHS? Some of the cruelest, most judgmental, most intolerant and unpleasant people I have ever known - and that is saying a lot, I grew up surrounded by republicans, some of whom make Trump and even LePage look like fluffy bunnies in comparison.

I agree with the sentiment that they should pay for their mistakes too - but don't make the mistake of thinking that these people are typically kind and generous - they are not, at least, not generally. That is not the sort of people they want working for DHHS.

for good reasons.

yup

"General, some people in Maine need food. You won't be getting next week's bullets. Try to make this week's last"

My mother got Social Security survivor benefits for my siblings and I after our father died, and I never saw that money. They overpaid her for a month after I turned 18. When I filed my taxes the next year, the took it out of my return for money they gave my mom.

and not have to pay the money back.
Have a feeling that may have changed, but worth looking into.

If you are overpaid Social Security, you can get it waived, if you fail to pay Income Taxes, it can be forgiven. Till the mid 1990s you could get a wavier of overpayments of Food Stamps, but as part of Welfare Reform, the rules for welfare were extended to Food Stamps. Under Welfare rules, any overpayment MUST be paid back, even if it was the Government's fault. Any overpayment MUST be paid back even if the reason for the overpayment was the fault of the Government. Since the mid 1990s that has also been the rule for Food Stamps.

I just think it's fucking stupid to expect people who are so poor that they have to give them grocery money to pay back the federal government for the government's mistake.

I've got 4/5 of a jar of Ah-So Asian sauce-base, a jar of wasabi mustard, 8 zucchinis, a tub of "seasoned" feta cheese and a lot of other odd-ends I'd be willing to donate to the cause.

always mooching off the Enablers...... to the guillotines with em! /s

I know this happens in my state. To make it worst if the error isn't corrected quickly it compounds the overpayment.

Underpayments are the flip side of this problem. The underpayment isn't corrected and people go without enough food.

Several years ago we were on food stamps. They messed up one month and gave us too much. We were stupid enough to think they must have increased our benefits. Not so. The next month they said they made a mistake and we owed them. We paid them back in monthly installments. We did try to refute it but, but no dice.

It's pretty sad.

People so poor they qualify for food stamps have no resources to pay back an average of about $1000 each. Holding back 10% of the pittance food stamps already allow is cruel.

It's just DHS, Department of Human Services.

That has been the case since Food Stamps came out in the Mid 1969s. State Department of Welfare then use those regulations to issue Food Stamps (officially call SNAP today).

no one hasnt gone after the big graters tax cheats and dead beats . and i dont men the poor i mean ge gm etc and trump who helped tank the world wide economy during the GREAT DEPRESSSION NOT RESSION part 2.0

That has always been the law. Food Stamps had they own rules for overpayment till the mid 1990s, but it was changed to the welfare rules in the mid 1990s.

Till the mid 1990s you would be charged for any Food Stamps overpayment, but only had to pay it back if you wanted to. That different in treatment of overpayment ended in the mid 1990s when Congress told the Department of Agriculture that they had to reduce ongoing Food Stamps till the overpayment was paid back.

always appeal.

i have found that these folk arnt any help. next step is to ask for a alg

This will not come as a surprise. The organization, overall, is made up (and particularly at the administrative level) of people who are not... shall we say, warm and fuzzy. The restrictions, the limitations and other things that have come into play since welfare reform particularly have placed a spotlight of suspicion upon everyone and anyone who might need help with, you know... not starving or freezing to death.

The task of aiding those who are most unfortunate among us should be a sacred thing, the service given to them should be a matter of great thought, deep compassion and sincere obligation and honor. The understanding that it could be any one of us, that those who struggle the most greatly are deserving of our consideration and our empathy because the burdens which they bare are ours as well. This is why we create Nations, governments, unions, even religions. I have been there, I have worked with and lived with others who have been there, some who are still there.

Unfortunately, those who are not familiar with DHHS and the nightmare that is government assistance - will either not care, or will assume that some poor people are trying to work the system for their own benefit. This "error" will result in the least fortunate among us becoming even less fortunate - as the direct result of receiving assistance directed by people who are uncaring if not incompetent altogether.

When you garnish the wages of those already poor, seize what little money they have and attack their very means by which to survive... you are, essentially, declaring war not on poverty, but on those who are impoverished. This cannot be excused, justified, or condoned in any way, it should not be tolerated.

Yet, you have republicans (particularly the tea party sort) all too eager to dismantle assistance programs, to encourage and even cheer pain, suffering, poverty - and even the death of those less fortunate. You even have democrats petulantly (and with neither comprehension nor empathy) grumbling about "free loaders", calling for drug testing for welfare recipients, screaming bloody murder every time a person who receives assistance has so much as a cell phone or computer to play with.

What is lacking, deeply lacking and a blight upon our society overall... is an understanding of just what the poor face in this Country. What is lacking is the empathy and compassion that should be within all of us, especially those most fortunate. What is lacking is assistance that enables more than survival, but to grant one the ability to move beyond poverty. What is lacking is genuine, decent, or competent oversight and management.

Overpayments? Fuck you, DHHS. Fuck you, state of Maine. Fuck you, government. These are not, by any means, overpayments. They are but the tiniest fraction of what should have been given to these people all along, rather than the bailouts for corporations, ridiculous compensation levels for inadequate and moronic politicians and hundreds of billions of dollars of tax payer money that simply goes "missing" every god damn year.

I cannot say these things often enough or loudly enough. I cannot, in words, adequately express my anger or sense of betrayal at the sort of shit that goes down here, without those in power typically so much as batting an eye. It is disgraceful, it is despicable, it is contemptible, even evil, to kick people who are down, to cheer their suffering and inflict more upon them, to take from them, when they have so little already.

Pardon my rant, but DHHS needs to be completely reformed, by individuals and administrators who are human beings with hearts and souls. I wish we could do the same thing with government overall.

Mary Mayhew was a hospital lobbyist before she became commissioner. She has made so many colossal mistakes that have cost the state millions like losing federal funding for the state mental hospital (20 million) due to understaffing. She has absolutely no compassion for people and seriously wants to incarcerate the mentally ill in prison. Child poverty has increased dramatically in Maine during her and LePage's tenure. This new problem will be swept under the rug along with the rest.
I despise LePage but Mary Mayhew is even worse. With the money she has lost, we could feed and care for most of the people she has trampled on.

the pols don't see where they're dead wrong either.

We have a real disconnect between the people and the assholes representing us in congress, state houses and the whitehouse.

I made sure the company kept paying for his/her insurance..I could have been fired and worse, but I refused to take a former employee off the insurance when he/she needed it most!

Is there anything we can do about this? Is there some way to get this reversed so that the poorest people in our economy don't have to pay for this mistake? I know LePage is probably laughing and cheering all the way to the bank right now... but there must be something we can do about it.

Now I understand their rush to report preliminary "results" of the internal study of former SNAP benefits participants and their new incomes. Preliminary study results, probably unweighted data, probably not tested for statistical significance, probably not even properly designed data collection.