An 84-year-old woman from Texas is facing an unexpected and deeply unsettling financial challenge after the state mistakenly overpaid her nearly $9,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and is now seeking to recover that money by cutting into her monthly Social Security income.
The woman, identified as Jerralee King, originally applied for SNAP food benefits in 2021, a program designed to help low-income Americans pay for groceries.
For about three and a half years, she received monthly payments that ranged from roughly $112 to $348, which she said made a “big difference” in her ability to cover basic needs. But last March, her benefits abruptly stopped, and she was left in the dark about why.
King received SNAP payments she was never eligible for
Several months later, King received a letter from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) stating that she was never eligible for the benefits she had been receiving and that she now owed $8,927, the full amount of the alleged overpayment, Newsweek reported.
According to the notice, the error occurred because the agency failed to enter the correct financial information when determining her eligibility.
Despite the mistake being made by the agency, federal law requires SNAP recipients to repay any overpayments, even if the error was not their fault. To recover the debt, the US Department of the Treasury has informed King that up to 15 per cent of her monthly Social Security benefit, roughly $200, may be withheld until the balance is repaid. This reduction significantly affects a woman living alone on fixed retirement income.
‘When you make a mistake, you have to rectify it’
“When you make a mistake, you have to rectify it in some way,” King told local news, noting her surprise and frustration at being held responsible for a government error.
According to Newsweek, experts have said that SNAP overpayment issues are more common than many people realise. The national error rate for SNAP payments, including both underpayments and overpayments, was around 11 per cent in recent years, with overpayments making up the bulk of errors, according to data cited by analysts.