US orders Mass. to fix food stamp procedures

Stores turn away some because of confusion over photo ID cards

Massachusetts last year became one of the first states to require food stamp cards to include photos of recipients, but the new program has created such confusion that some low-income families are unable to buy groceries and the federal government is demanding that the state quickly fix the problem.

The cards, known as EBTs, an acronym for Electronic Benefit Transfer, act like debit cards and are issued to heads of households. But some store cashiers have turned away the recipients’ family members or others in the household — who can legally use the benefits — because they do not match the photos. Such practices violate federal rules, which require retailers to treat food stamp recipients like any other customer.

It is unclear how widespread the problems were. But they were significant enough that the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, recently sent state officials a strongly worded letter detailing concerns about the implementation of the photo cards.

The USDA dispatched agents to Massachusetts in August and found that state workers were inadequately trained about rules governing the photo cards, and subsequently, so were recipients and retailers. The USDA also found that elderly and disabled residents were denied benefits unless they had their pictures taken, even though the state specifically exempted them from photo requirements.

In addition, the USDA said, many families had benefits cut off for up to three weeks because their old cards were deactivated before they received new cards in the mail.

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