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Nebraska Just Got A Lot Better At Giving Out Food Stamps

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The Neb. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will continue to receive upwards of $17 million in federal funding for food stamps because of improvements in the the response and approval time associated with welfare applications.

AccessNebraska, the state agency that manages the food stamps program, met the minimum benchmarks for processing applications, allowing them to retain the federal money for the program, reports Omaha World-Herald.

“With the changes we’ve made, clients are receiving benefits sooner,” Courtney Phillips, CEO of the Neb. Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture threatened to withhold federal money for Nebraska’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, because the state bureaucracy couldn’t process welfare applications in a timely manner. Food stamps applicants — referred to as “clients” by federal and state welfare managers — would sometimes have to wait 30 to 45 minutes on hold to speak to a representative.

In order to remain eligible for the federal money, the USDA requires that AccessNebraska process 95 percent of SNAP applications on time — within one month in most cases, or one week in urgent cases.

Applications for food stamps “were approved in an average of nine days, with one-third of the clients receiving same day approval,” Phillips said. “The hard work of our employees in reaching this milestone is a testament to their dedication to the citizens of Nebraska.”

AccessNebraska was formed in 2008 as the state’s HHS division to oversee all welfare programs, including food stamps, disability benefits and Medicaid. Since then, the food stamps program struggled to keep up with the applications. A special report from the state legislature called the program “largely a failure” in Dec. 2014.

“AccessNebraska continues to make great strides in efficiently and effectively providing benefits to our most vulnerable,” Gov. Pete Richetts said Thursday in the news release. “Improved service at AccessNebraska is making a real difference in the lives of Nebraskans. These latest numbers are more evidence that building a culture of continuous improvement helps organizations like DHHS improve its level of service on an ongoing basis.”

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