Welfare fraud in Georgia calls for systematic reform
In 2016 alone, over 3 million dollars in welfare assistance was reported fraudulent in Georgia.1 Welfare fraud includes Medicaid, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and child care vouchers. The most common trend in welfare fraud is recipients failing to report income or providing false statements about their and their spouse’s income. 2 Those committing fraud take away benefits intended for those who are truly in need of aid and use taxpayer dollars to not only fund the theft itself but also to clean up the aftermath of the crime. Inconsistencies in welfare distribution between state and federal agencies make the government susceptible to fraud and are an issue that must be addressed in order to strengthen welfare services to assist those who are truly needy.

Those that commit welfare fraud have failed to truthfully report their income levels while still receiving benefits intended for those who are truly needy. Violators of fraud severely hurt families that actually need assistance by taking benefits that were not meant for them. Welfare recipients themselves are most likely unaware of the issue, and therefore, hold little power to change the issue.
Fraud is paid for at the expense of taxpayer’s dollars with damage extending beyond the fraud itself with the justice system cleaning up the mess. Taxpayers have a right to know where their money is going and should not accept the government’s lack of welfare supervision. Taxpayers have the ability to elect representatives who prioritize welfare reform and call attention to the issue.
Researching welfare fraud in Georgia is a manageable topic as other state and think tanks, such as the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, have already implemented policies to address the issue. 3 It is a bipartisan issue and has received a great deal of attention at the federal level. State level policy could realistically be introduced to restructure welfare distribution and reduce fraud in Georgia. Georgia’s Department of Health and Human Services has a department designed specifically for investigating welfare fraud. State legislators have also called attention to the issue as multiple bills have been proposed at the Georgia General Assembly, including House Bill 124 sponsored by Buford Representative David Clark. 4
Footnotes:
[1] Austin, Waldo. (2016) Welfare Fraud Prosecution. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.pacga.org/site/protected_docs/WF_2016.pdf
2 Benefit Integrity and Recovery Unit. (n.d.). Retrieved September 2, 2018, from https://dhs.georgia.gov/benefit-integrity-and-recovery-unit
3 Mississippi Center for Public Policy. (2017, May 26). Welfare Fraud Policy Brief. Retrieved September 06, 2018, from http://www.mspolicy.org/1857-2/
4 HB 124 2017–2018 Regular Session. (n.d.). Retrieved September 04, 2018, from http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20172018/HB/124