LARGELY DUE TO OVERPAYMENTS, Massachusetts registered a 12.5 percent error rate for SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2025, which could put the state on the hook to cover more of the cost of the federal food and nutrition assistance program.
The error rate exceeded the national rate of 10.6 percent as well as the 6 percent threshold that Congress approved as part of a law intended to force states to be more vigilant about oversight. Error rates measure how accurately state agencies determine household eligibility and benefit amounts.
States with error rates at or above the 6 percent threshold will be responsible for covering 5 percent, 10 percent, or 15 percent of their state’s benefits as soon as October 1, 2027, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. States may choose either their fiscal 2025 or fiscal 2026 rates to determine required benefit matches if error rates exceed 6 percent.
The department, which is overseen by the Trump administration, said in a press release that the newly released rates reflect “significant waste at the state level,” with a collective $10.1 billion in improper payments nationwide.
“These payment error rates are further proof that state accountability is severely lacking in SNAP,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. “USDA has taken historic action to help interested states curb SNAP waste, and I hope other states, regardless of political leadership, prioritize needy families and the American taxpayer over politics.”
On its website, USDA says “SNAP error rates are not fraud rates” and payment accuracy errors in SNAP “are largely unintentional” and can happen if an applicant is determined eligible when they are not, or when an eligible participant is certified to receive either more or less benefits than they are entitled to.
A federal nutrition program, SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is administered by the states and by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) in Massachusetts, where the program serves about one in seven residents. Monthly benefits are granted on a debit-like EBT card to buy food.
A household of two with a maximum monthly income of $3,607 would be eligible for a maximum monthly benefit of $546, according to the state, while a household of four with a monthly income of $5,500 would receive up to $994 per month.
The Massachusetts SNAP error rate was 14.1 percent in fiscal 2024 and 11.8 percent in fiscal 2022. No data was available from fiscal 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic year, and the error rate here was about 4.5 percent in fiscal 2018, according to USDA.
On June 26, two days after federal officials released updated SNAP error rates, the DTA announced that it had “shut down theft in” its SUN Bucks program shortly after launching it for the summer on June 1, when it detected a “large-scale skimming fraud scheme.” DTA believes about 10,000 fraudulent transactions totaled $855,000 in stolen federal benefits, and it referred the case to the U.S. attorney’s office and USDA.
The federal SUN Bucks program helps families afford food for their children when school is closed during the summer, and DTA said the situation was “part of a national trend of large-scale skimming targeting residents using EBT cards in every state over the past few years.”
“Despite the nature of these crimes occurring across state lines and involving the theft of federally funded benefits, the federal government has largely remained unaccountable for stopping organized criminal entities from targeting low-income people. Their inaction continues to impact residents of Massachusetts,” DTA said.
“I’m proud that DTA’s strong fraud detection system worked as intended, discovered this fraud and put a stop to it before it could get worse,” DTA Commissioner Michael Cole said in a statement. “There must be a full investigation into this, and anyone found responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In Massachusetts, we have always worked hard to prevent fraud and theft and make sure that our most vulnerable families receive the benefits they deserve from this federal program. We need the federal government to be a partner in that work as well.”
Vicky Negus, a senior economic justice advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, told the News Service she is confident that Massachusetts will push its error rate lower but is not confident that it will get below 6 percent.
The error rate was below 6 percent for about 20 years before the pandemic, she said, emphasizing that insufficient staffing and training needs at DTA must be addressed because residents who need assistance with benefits sometimes can’t reach someone when they call for help, or may reach a worker who is “overburdened and stressed.”
“As a result, accuracy and access suffer,” she said.
The compromise fiscal 2027 budget sent to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk last week adopted the House funding level for DTA caseworkers, allocating $122 million. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said that represents nearly a $21 million reduction compared to fiscal 2026 funding, and could translate into about 150 caseworkers being laid off.
Advocates said the staffing reduction could undermine both program administration and efforts to improve SNAP payment accuracy.
“Instead of cutting, the state should be increasing this funding and adding even more DTA caseworkers,” MassBudget said in a statement Wednesday. “Failing to address the shortage of caseworkers is also likely to have serious consequences for federal funding moving forward.”
As advocates argued that increased workloads, delays in processing applications and difficulty for clients reaching the agency by phone have contributed to payment errors, they said additional staffing — not a reduction — is needed to bring the state’s error rate down.
Dave Foley, president of SEIU 509 which represents the caseworkers, said they are “already struggling to provide the level of support Massachusetts residents need.”
“We urge the Healey administration to act quickly to introduce a supplemental budget that will not only ensure full support for the current workforce, but also make additional investments to hire more caseworkers,” he said. “Without those investments, long wait times and high caseloads will continue to present barriers for both workers and clients. Funding DTA workers is an investment in timely, accurate, and effective services for the clients who rely on them.”
With an annual cost of $2.1 billion in Massachusetts, or $177 million per month, Negus estimated the state would be on the hook for $106 million in costs with a 5 percent error rate, $213 million with a 10 percent rate and $319 million with a 15 percent rate.
DTA spokesperson Cecille Avila noted progress in lowering the error rate to 12.5 percent.
“We have undertaken significant efforts to reduce it even further, but the truth is that the Trump Administration is setting states up to fail with their unreasonable standards,” Avila said in a statement. “Their goal is to pass costs down to states so that more people lose these essential benefits that they rely on to feed their families. Here in Massachusetts, we are going to keep doing everything we can to improve payment accuracy and protect people’s SNAP benefits.”
Fiscal Alliance Foundation Executive Director Paul Craney called attention to the new error rates when they were announced, saying in a statement that Massachusetts has “one of the worst-performing SNAP programs in America.”
“That is the worst of both worlds for taxpayers,” Craney said. “The Commonwealth is still the worst in New England, still above the national average, and still facing the consequences of years of weak oversight and poor administration.”
