Iowa seeking repayment from 'double welfare' recipients

Recovering the last $700,000 in double welfare payments accidentally mailed to Iowa recipients is being complicated by some of those recipients dropping off the rolls.

“In the normal course of events people always see their benefits expire, or they're not eligible from one month to the next,” said Roger Munns, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services. “We're in the process of notifying everybody who owes us that they owe us money.”

In January, the DHS shifted clients in the Family Investment Program, the basic welfare system, from traditional paper checks to a debit card replenished monthly with their authorized benefit. But the department's staff didn't shut down the check-writing system, and 13,380 Iowans received both forms of payment.

DHS gave recipients the option of returning the paper checks or forfeiting their February benefit to offset the double payment. But 2,432 recipients won't receive February benefits, leaving the agency to seek other ways to regain about $700,000.

Letters have been mailed to those people outlining their options, Munns said.

“They can do a payment plan, they can send a check, or if they think we're not right they can appeal,” he said. “A lot of these people are people who have trouble managing money in the first place, so you're facing that difficulty as well.”

Munns said the state can withhold money from the double recipients' future tax returns, or deduct the amount from any future benefits they may apply for.

Overall, DHS officials were pleased with recipients' response, Munns said, He noted DHS distributed $5,717,369 in benefits to 17,777 recipients in January.

“We had hundreds of people just come into the office and say, ‘Here's my check, I shouldn't have got it,'” Munns said.