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(Lincoln, NE) Gov. Dave Heineman announced today that Nebraska has received more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for achieving the nation’s highest accuracy rate in processing applications for the federal food stamp program.
“This is quite an honor for our state and the dedicated employees who work with Nebraska’s food stamp program,” Gov. Heineman said. “This high degree of accuracy they’ve achieved helps to ensure that more assistance is available for those who need it most, and I want to commend everyone involved for their hard work and attention to detail.”
Nancy Montanez Johner, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, was in Lincoln today to present the check to the Governor and Christine Peterson, acting director of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Nebraska had the lowest error rate in the nation in 2005, accurately identifying and rejecting more than 99 percent of all ineligible applications. This is the third year in a row the state has received a high performance bonus. Nebraska has maintained an error rate of less than 1 percent since 1999.
The high performance bonus is based on achieving “negative error rates,” which is a measure of a state agency’s ability to correctly deny applications for the food stamp program, and suspend or terminate benefits for participating households when warranted.
The state will use the award to upgrade equipment and provide for continued improvement. Nebraska is one of only four states receiving a performance bonus. South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana were also recognized.
Peterson said, “Low negative error rates mean that food stamps are truly going to those who need them most. This bonus also shows that our employees make the right decisions when denying a food stamp application or closing a case.”
The HHS Food Stamp program currently serves more than 120,000 people in Nebraska.
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