The Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) has a problem with its records. In fiscal years 2023 and 2024, hundreds of thousands of dollars were distributed through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to people who were not eligible for these services, either because they were too old, their income was too high, or, in some instances, they were dead.
“DSS paid benefits that clients were not eligible to receive,” the most recent State of Connecticut Single Audit Report states. “Deceased client cases remained open, which created opportunities for medical providers and other unauthorized persons to misuse their Medicaid, COVID-19 Medicaid, and SNAP benefits.”
In total, almost $10,000 was overpaid to for SNAP and Medicaid for 11 people who had died, the DSS spent more than $400,000 on “questionable” costs related to CHIP and more than $600,000 payments were made through CHIP for adults who had aged out of the program. On top of that, the DSS spent $8,713 associated with “ineligible clients,” mostly related to SNAP benefits and Medicaid.
Of the 11 cases where the state reimbursed SNAP payments to recipients who had already passed away, five involved unauthorized people using the SNAP benefit belonging to a deceased person.
This isn’t a new problem.
The Auditor of Public Accounts found the same issue in SNAP funds being dispersed improperly in more than two dozen past audits, including in its previous report in 2023.
This happened because the DSS does not have access to the state’s death data, which makes it hard for staff to verify the dates of death, the report states. DSS’s system for enrolling people in these programs automatically marks alerts as complete if the department does not address them within a certain number of days.
As for CHIP, this is the fifth time that auditors have identified a problem with people who have aged out of the system receiving payments. This problem was also raised in the last audit report from the state.
In this most recent report, the auditors attribute this mistake to the fact that DSS does not have the means to verify the third-party insurance of clients enrolled in CHIP.
To fix the shortcomings with CHIP payments, the auditors recommend, “The Department of Social Services should strengthen internal controls.”
The recommended changes to prevent people from claiming Medicaid and SNAP benefits for deceased people was: “The Department of Social Services should provide the necessary resources and institute procedures to ensure that it uses all information from eligibility, income, and death matches to ensure that it is correctly issues benefits to eligible clients or on their behalf.”
The auditors also recommend that DSS return federal reimbursements for “unallowable expenditures” that were claimed under Medicaid, COVID-19 Medicaid and SNAP.
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I saw your article and I was relieved. How inept the department of Social services is. I live on Social security disability that my daughter gets was disabled. I gave them a closed case letter from New York City May 6th and they took my tax refund and the lady tells me I have to go and prove that the funds didn’t go in my card. I’m a retired teacher taking care of a mentally and capacitated 14 year old child we live on $800 a month they took $2,000 and now they’re going after the other four that’s their father and administrative for hearing and I have all the documentation when you go after a child quality of life which is terrible travesty. I have a recording of a conversation and a phone call with the DSs worker is trying to get me to close the fear hearing for cash and not for food stamps what you feel to tell me was that if I cancel one I cancel both and I would have lost the $6,000. She left on the phone when I told you I was a victim of tax identity then she hung up. I sent 20 pages of proof the administrative hearing all the letters of it it was so much more to this that needs to be heatd. My daughter who’s a war hero and a war veteran and what her in the head and active duty this stealing her for child careers over 5,000 they want for 3 months or 4 months that I got cancer I just canceled it. She’s 100% PT disabled veterans for life she will never be the same and they want to take my money or put a lean on her house cuz I got a story if you want it people will not believe what they did to me so much more.