Benefits Program Integrity recovered nearly $4.5 million in first quarter

The OIG’s Benefits Program Integrity (BPI) division completed 3,928 investigations involving some form of benefit recipient overpayment or fraud allegation. Eighty-five percent of all investigations completed involved unreported income (32%) or an issue with the reported household composition (53%). Household composition cases usually deal with an unreported household member who has income or could also include a household member who does not actually live in the same residence. Both instances cause the household to receive more benefits than they are eligible for.

BPI completed 261 investigations where fraud was determined. A sample of cases worked by BPI this quarter include the following:

• BPI resolved a case in October in Hidalgo County involving a client who fraudulently obtained $32,002 in SNAP and Medicaid benefits. The client falsified benefit applications by failing to report her husband and his income from August 2014 to July 2017 in her household composition. As a result, the client pleaded guilty, received a judgment of deferred adjudication, community supervision, spent two days in jail and was ordered to pay full restitution.
• BPI received a referral alleging a client failed to report her residential status while receiving benefits. During the investigation, the client confessed to residing in Mexico the entire period she was receiving both SNAP and Medicaid benefits. The case was filed with the Maverick County District Attorney. The client was found guilty, disqualified from SNAP for 12 months, sentenced to ten years of probation and ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $66,161.
• Excess SNAP and Medicaid benefits. BPI resolved a case in October where a client in Parker County falsified applications by failing to report her husband and his income as part of her household. As a result, the client received $25,417 in excess SNAP benefits and $42,737 in excess Medicaid benefits from 2014 to 2018. The client was found guilty, disqualified from SNAP for 12 months, received a suspended sentence of 365 days in county jail, 25 hours of community service and was ordered to pay $45,000 upfront, with monthly payments on the remaining balance of $23,154.

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