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Pennsylvania is wasting millions of dollars on overpayments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. If nothing changes, the state faces hefty penalties next year. But Pennsylvania can do more to stop the waste without harming those who depend on SNAP.
For more than a year, Pennsylvania has not only overpaid SNAP recipients but also refused efforts to shed light on these overpayments. For more than a year, the commonwealth has stonewalled all federal requests for data, even though the federal government shoulders most of SNAP's cost. Now, Pennsylvania faces a federal lawsuit due to this refusal.
But the commonwealth should welcome help, given our high error rate. Recently released figures show the commonwealth's SNAP payment error rate is 9.21 percent for fiscal year 2025. Nearly one in ten payments is either too high or too low, meaning some families aren't receiving what they need while others receive more than they are eligible for.
Both outcomes represent a failure of the program's basic mission.
No matter how you parse it, our error rate is north of the federal target of six percent. And Pennsylvania isn't alone: Currently, 42 states exceed the federal benchmark.
But if these states don't get their error rates in check, they will literally pay for their mistakes. States exceeding the federal benchmark have one year to comply, or they must pay a larger share of the program's costs. Unless Pennsylvania gets its act together, Pennsylvania's Independent Fiscal Office estimates that the commonwealth would be liable for an additional $900 million.
Penalties are based on the size of the SNAP program, which highlights another problem. SNAP enrollment in Pennsylvania has grown faster than the statewide population. From 2020 to 2025, SNAP enrollment in the commonwealth grew by 218,000, while our population grew by just 73,000--a threefold difference.
The bigger the program, the more attractive it is to scammers seeking to steal SNAP benefits. So, how can Pennsylvania shrink its SNAP error rate while also supporting recipients? By adopting a work-first attitude in SNAP administration.
For far too long, welfare programs have ignored their responsibility not only to disburse the correct payments but also to help recipients become self-sufficient. For healthy adults, SNAP was never supposed to be a permanent destination but rather a temporary bridge to independence.
The first step is to help healthy adults meet work requirements. Since its inception, SNAP has required work for certain recipients, specifically for able-bodied, working-age adults without kids. But in response to the 2008 recession and the Covid-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania bureaucrats suspended most of those requirements.
That changed in November when the federal government restored work requirements. SNAP recipients without dependents between 18 and 64 must report at least 20 hours a week (or 80 per month) of work, volunteering, education, or training.
Something amazing has taken place in the commonwealth since that change: Pennsylvanians are going back to work. In seven months, SNAP enrollment in Pennsylvania declined by 107,596 recipients, returning to pre-Covid levels. Pennsylvania also witnessed a moderate increase in the labor force participation rate, with more than 55,000 Pennsylvanians joining the workforce this year alone.
The evidence from other states should give us confidence that these trends will hold. When Arkansas implemented Medicaid work requirements, employment increased, and 14,000 participants reported higher incomes.
Arkansas isn't the only success story. When other states ended SNAP work requirements, incomes more than doubled within a year and tripled within two years, more than offsetting lost benefits.
Work requirements proved to be a net benefit for both recipients and taxpayers.
The decline in SNAP benefits is an early success story. More Pennsylvanians contributing to their communities means growth in the state's tax base, not in its ever-growing welfare state.
What's happening in SNAP could be a precursor to reforms coming in Pennsylvania's largest welfare program: Medicaid. Beginning in January, Medicaid will also require work for healthy adults without young children. Again, beware the alarmist headlines and watch the labor trends instead. If the SNAP experience is any guide, more Pennsylvanians will find their way into the workforce, just as they did in Arkansas.
That's a win for all Pennsylvanians.
Put simply, work works. A safety net is supposed to help people move up, not entrap them. Collaborating with the federal government will reduce payment errors and improve Pennsylvania's fiscal future. Most importantly, a work-first mindset helps the state become a partner on Pennsylvanians' pathway to independence, dignifying and empowering them to put their talents to work.
Elizabeth Stelle is the vice president of policy at the Commonwealth Foundation