News, Plan to add photo ID on food stamp cards supported by Ohio House (Columbus: 2015, college)

[JD59]

COLUMBUS, Ohio— Lawmakers in the Ohio House are backing a plan to require identification photos on food stamp cards.

Plan to add photo ID on food stamp cards supported by Ohio House | fox8.com

[Natural510]

Not a bad idea.

[adjusterjack]

Ditto. Every state should require it.

[ibagli]

Unless there's been a major change in the way the program operates (and I don't think there has), this is pointless for a couple of reasons. The main one is that the cards are issued to households, and any member can use the card, even if they aren't the named beneficiary.

[TXStrat]

Anything that makes fraud more difficult is a start. I grew up in Lucas county, outside of Toledo, and was shocked when I spent three years in Tuscarawas county at the level of benefit fraud. It's a cottage industry in some parts of that area. One generation shows the next how to exploit loopholes, maximize benefits, and minimize requirements to work.

[OhioJB]

Not a good idea. People apply online, get interviewed over the phone, and have a hard time getting through on the phone when they have a question. One of my nieces was on it for awhile before she went to college. If it's that busy and crowded with the current set-up this will only add to the burden of an overstretched staff. Can you imagine that many people having to go to the gov't office to have this taken care of, and the associated cost?

Not to mention, there are many self-checkout lanes now so the recipient doesn't even need to go through a manned checkout line. If that's mandated then my guess is this is nothing more than an attempt to shame people to having to show up to get their picture taken for food assistance and by forcing them to go through a manned checkout line. An attempt to get people to voluntarily get off the program by shaming them? Possibly. But even going through a manned checkout line doesn't guarantee a cashier will check a person's card before it's slid through the card machine by the customer. They wont want to mess with that. Dumb idea, which means Kasich would probably sign it into law if it reaches his desk.

[residinghere2007]

I also don't think it's a good idea.

Like ibagli mentioned, it is for household use, not one particular person, so unless they are going to give cards to every person in the household with pictures (which would cost more money) I don't see this being able to be done.

I'll note that I have elderly relatives who get foodstamps. Due to them being elderly and some both elderly and disabled, I frequently shop for them because they are home bound. With this change, caregivers or family members who are helpful to people using the program getting groceries, would potentially be disallowed use of the cards for the beneficiaries.

[residinghere2007]

Another reason I would be against it is the cost of the program. They'd probably need to hire more people in state government to get people to come in and take a picture. People who don't have vehicles, who are elderly, or disabled, like my own relatives - the state would be responsible for providing them transportation to the facility to take pictures/get cards because it could be seen as discriminatory against people based on age, disability, or family income (lack of transportation). IMO this would be a waste of money on a wide scale. Also getting everyone new cards itself would be a lot of money.

I would hope since Kasich is a conservative, he's been advised on the above and that he won't sign this into law as it will increase the cost of the program and open the state up to lawsuits.

[ferraris]

I don't think this would be effective, because the cashier at the grocery store isn't going to have enough of a vested interest to give anyone a hard time about it.

That said, within a week of moving to Ohio I had already been approached by a person inside the grocery store asking if I was going to pay with cash, because he would trade me for his food stamps.

[canudigit]

I don't think it's about shaming people at all, it's about trying to make a dent in the fraud and theft that is going on with the current system. Does anyone have any better ideas?

It's just another case of the bad apples spoiling it for everyone else. If everyone on the program was using it honestly there would be no need to change anything.