Response comes after investigation reveals undue pressure to approve applicants

 

By Raquel Rutledge 

 

 

For the second time since July, Wisconsin lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scrambling for solutions to plug holes in the state's public assistance programs and promising action to shore up oversight to better prevent fraud.

 

State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said this week he is drafting legislation that would resurrect asset testing to determine who qualifies for aid and that would drop income eligibility for food benefits back to the level set by federal guidelines.

 

In 2004, Wisconsin raised income eligibility from 130% of the federal poverty level to 200%, one of only nine states to open the door to a broader population. Under that change, income eligibility for a family of four jumped from $29,976 to $46,100.

 

Grothman said the explosion in the taxpayer-supported food program is creating a "moral crisis as people believe they have a right to live off the government."

 

"I have no problem helping people who are temporarily facing tough straits," he said. "But that should not include a sixth of all Wisconsinites."

 

The call for changes follows a Journal Sentinel investigation published Sunday that exposed how federal incentives to boost enrollment in food and medical assistance programs have led to pressure on front-line workers to issue benefits even when they suspect people might not be eligible.

 

Supervisors eager to hit target numbers are instructing workers to process benefits for people already receiving aid in others states, people in jail — essentially anybody with an ID card.

 

Front-end verification, a process meant to add scrutiny to the the approval process when applications are questionable, is seldom used. Workers told the Journal Sentinel the problem is compounded by a lack of ability to recover funds from those who cheat the system — not because those who've defrauded the system don't have the money, but because regulators don't have adequate tools to pursue it.

 

In July, a Journal Sentinel investigation exposed widespread failures by state and local regulators to verify actual income when applicants for public assistance report they are self-employed or have no income.

That prompted earlier promises of reform by Democrats and Republicans.

 

Said Grothman: "The fact that there is fraud should be obvious."

 

Wisconsin received $33 million — the highest bonus in the country — in 2011 for streamlining the application process and increasing the number of children enrolled in medical assistance programs. The state got the fourth largest bonus in the nation for similar efforts last year. Bonuses relating to the food assistance program topped $4 million over the last couple of years.

 

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said Tuesday that bonus incentives are always problematic. She recalls millions spent in the late 1990s encouraging front-line workers to deny benefits to people.

 

"There were front-line workers whose job it was to turn people around at the door," Moore said. "The incentive ought to be to get it right, not to enroll people who are ineligible or to hold people up, but to get it right."

 

She said supervisors encouraging workers to process applications for people in prison or dead people should be fired and criminally charged.

 

State Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) said lawmakers need to look for additional ways to encourage workers overseeing public assistance programs to report fraud.

 

"We need to listen to the front-line workers," he said. "They are the people who really see what's happening out there. We need to make sure we have a free and open environment to report fraud."

At the same time, he said, lawmakers need to be careful not to impede help for the vast majority who truly need it.

 

"When the Legislature responds to issues like this, we tend to go overboard," Richards said. "We need to be cautious about going too far, and attack the problem in a meaningful but methodical way."

 

State lawmakers passed a whistleblower protection law in 2010 after a Journal Sentinel investigation into the state's subsidized child care program uncovered government workers being harassed and punished for reporting suspected fraud.

 

It is difficult to know how effective that law has been. Workers told the Journal Sentinel in recent weeks that supervisors make it clear to them that they risk losing their jobs if they deny benefits to people who later turn out to be eligible.

 

State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) is working on a number of proposals aimed at curtailing fraud in public assistance programs. One, pushed by county fraud workers across the state, would give regulators the ability to file liens and administrative levies to recover money from people who receive food and medical benefits improperly.

 

"The whole system needs to be set up with checks and balances," Darling said.

 

State departments need better ability to communicate with each other, and workers need to be trained to pursue suspected fraud.

"There has to be a culture change," she said.

 

Gov. Scott Walker and top officials at the Department of Health Services have declined the Journal Sentinel's repeated requests for interviews regarding the state's shortcomings in overseeing public assistance programs. Darling has said she and other lawmakers are working with Walker on ways to beef up fraud protection.

 

Details, she has said, will be released this fall.

 

 

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