Woman billed for food stamp overpayment

This story first appeared in The Scanner Newspaper and was produced with the assistance of The Scanner

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Portland woman says a mistake by the state has forced her to go back on food stamps and she says it's not the first time.

Monica Taylor was off the food stamp program until the state realized she was overpaid $1,900 in benefits in 2007.

“The caseworker that I had did not accurately put my information in so it was her error,” said Taylor. “But because it was her error, I still have to pay the benefits back.”

As a single mom with children at home, she had to go back on food stamps to make ends meet.

Taylor said this was the second time this has happened to her in the past few years. Back in 2005, the state overpaid her $5,000 in benefits.

But the state of Oregon said it has won awards for the accuracy of its food stamp program and questions just how many people are affected by these kinds of mistakes.

Oregon’s food stamp accuracy rate was at 87 percent in 2003.  In 2004, it jumped to 92 percent and a year later in 2005, the program’s accuracy level climbed to 94 percent. The program also gained performance bonuses from the federal government in 2006 and 2007.

Patty Wentz, from the Oregon Department of Human Services said more than 640,000 Oregonians received food stamps last month but this year, there are less than 3,000 cases of overpayments.

“The error rate is very low and we do try to catch it,” said Wentz.

But for people like Taylor, that error puts them further back from where they started.

“You’re right back in the boat you were trying to get out of and it happens over and over again to low-income people,” she said.

The state is really reluctant to lay mistakes at the feet of those in need but it's studies show only about one out 10 mistakes are the state's fault.  Almost nine out of 10 times, the mistakes come from information given by food stamp clients.