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marmar

(76,985 posts)
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:05 AM Apr 2013

Where is the Scrutiny of Crop Insurance Fraud?


from Civil Eats:



Minnesota Congressman Colin Peterson (D-Minn.) struck a nerve this month when he said that “there is five times as much fraud” in the federal crop insurance program as there is the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

“There is less fraud in food stamps than in any government program,” Peterson told the National Journal on April 10. “There is five times as much fraud in crop insurance than in food stamps.”

The senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee captured the exasperation that many feel when legislators attack SNAP even though the feeding assistance program has the lowest error rate of any government program.

Last week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack weighed in as well.

There’s also an issue we’re taking very seriously on crop insurance – because the percentage of error and fraud rate is higher in crop insurance than it is in SNAP,” Vilsack said. “Obviously those programs are different in terms of size – but even if you reduce the error rate in crop insurance, you’re talking about tens of millions, and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in savings as well.


In recent years, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have dedicated hours of hearings to alleged cases of SNAP fraud. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2013/04/25/where-is-the-scrutiny-of-crop-insurance-fraud/



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Where is the Scrutiny of Crop Insurance Fraud? (Original Post) marmar Apr 2013 OP
K&R for an interesting read and something I'd never considered. Brickbat Apr 2013 #1
The Crop Insurance program has perverse incentives also. House of Roberts Apr 2013 #2
Root out the Fraudsters (R) Berlum Apr 2013 #3

House of Roberts

(5,122 posts)
2. The Crop Insurance program has perverse incentives also.
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:54 AM
Apr 2013

It's possible for a farmer to be better off if the crop fails than if they have a superlative yield.

This article deals with criminal fraud by collecting government insurance money when no actual loss has occurred. It's more like fraudulent Medicare billing.

Most of these scams started under Bush, and it's taken this long to investigate because the Republicans block enough funding to police the programs because they would rather see them fail and add to their claims that government can't work.

Berlum

(7,044 posts)
3. Root out the Fraudsters (R)
Mon Apr 29, 2013, 11:14 AM
Apr 2013

Republicans greedily dipping into the public cookie jar to fatten their already fat keesters at everyone else's expense, while they TORPEDO meals-on-wheels and other programs for the hungry. As usual. Republican Socialism for Fat Cats.

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