Michigan lottery winner collected food stamps after winning...

[Buzz]

A woman who won $1,000,000 in the lottery was still collecting $200 per month in food stamps even after she received her winnings. Amount the things she purchased was a second home, a new car etc all the while still receiving monthly assistance from the state. This is why I have so many reservations about the welfare system. There is just not enough oversight of recipients.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...t-off-by-state

[Smiley0884]

Ugh. I think what angers me the most is how this woman basically feels "entitled" to public assistance. Things like welfare, food stamps, section 8, ect. should be a temporary hold over while someone is going through a rough patch or needs help getting on their feet. It shouldn't be a way of life, but for some reason it is for so many people. The welfare "culture" in this society needs to be put to a stop.

[Vash01]

She should have been donating money to feed the hungry, instead of collecting food stamps after winning a million.

[aliceanne]

I saw a picture of the home she bought, it was pretty modest. I wouldn't be surprised if it cost less than $50K, with the depressed real estate market in Michigan. She also took a lump payment of $700K instead of an annuity, and I believe she said she had to pay taxes on top of that, so the money is not likely to last her long, especially if she is supporting family members.

I think her bridge card should have been cut off by social services, but she is not a "member of the 1%" the way the press is portraying her.

[Skittl1321]

An article I read says that she is no longer receiving them. The press "did their job" and social services did indeed cut her off.

http://consumerist.com/2012/03/no-mo...ry-winner.html

[Ziggy]

This is why I have so many reservations about the welfare system. There is just not enough oversight of recipients.

Oversight of recipients as well as means-testing are just too expensive and not worth it in the end.

[aliceanne]

What is sad to me is that she is only 24 and on public assistance. It's too bad she didn't use the money to secure a future for herself, get a skill, go somewhere where there are jobs. It's as if she has already resigned herself to life as it is.

[Vash01]

What is sad to me is that she is only 24 and on public assistance. It's too bad she didn't use the money to secure a future for herself, get a skill, go somewhere where there are jobs. It's as if she has already resigned herself to life as it is.

Exactly. She could have gone to school with that money.

[agalisgv]

She doesn't strike me as a potential Rhodes scholar. Just sayin'

[Myskate]

According to reports, after taxes she received about $500,000. I'm sorry but my family of 4 could live well on that for along time. I live about 15 minutes from her city and I know that property values in Lincoln Park, Mi are very low. Average houses there sell for about 35,000-40,000. I don't understand why she didn't inform the state that her circumstances had changed. You are supposed to inform them within 10 days. I have never received public assistance but even I know that. It is in all the paperwork that you get when you are approved.

The worst part, she is the 2nd Michigan lottery winner to collect benefits from the state after winning. A man in Bay City, I think won 2 million dollars and still collected welfare for awhile.

[aliceanne]

According to reports, after taxes she received about $500,000. I'm sorry but my family of 4 could live well on that for along time. I live about 15 minutes from her city and I know that property values in Lincoln Park, Mi are very low. Average houses there sell for about 35,000-40,000. I don't understand why she didn't inform the state that her circumstances had changed. You are supposed to inform them within 10 days. I have never received public assistance but even I know that. It is in all the paperwork that you get when you are approved.

The worst part, she is the 2nd Michigan lottery winner to collect benefits from the state after winning. A man in Bay City, I think won 2 million dollars and still collected welfare for awhile.

Do they have to pay it back when they get found out?

[agalisgv]

No, because what they are doing isn't illegal. There is currently a bill being proposed that would cross check anyone receiving benefits with people who've won more than $1,000 in the lottery. I think that will likely pass handily.

[attyfan]

Exactly. She could have gone to school with that money.

Could she still do so? In California, the community college system is not only significantly less expensive than the universities, but will accept people who aren't eligible for things like the Cal State or U C systems. Do you know what Michigan has?

[overedge]

Oversight of recipients as well as means-testing are just too expensive and not worth it in the end.

In my province a few years ago there was a massive audit of social assistance programs and allocations. It cost the government a fair amount of money to carry out, and was also very stressful for many of those receiving assistance, who had to resubmit documentation, go through interviews involving questions the agencies already had the answers to, etc.

The result of the audit was that there was no more fraud going on in the system than what was already being caught on a regular basis by the controls already in place. The cost of conducting the audit was also considerably more than the "savings" from cutting off those few recipients who were deemed ineligible after the audit.

In a case like this woman and the lottery, I'm actually surprised that her case workers or agencies didn't know this news and cut her benefits off sooner. The agencies in my area are pretty predatory about finding/catching recipients they think are getting money they shouldn't.

[julieann]

I don't know why the lottery commission doesn't give someone -like the county-the names of the winners to make sure they are not receiving assistance so their payments can be cut off once the get thier winnings.

[Garden Kitty]

I think the regulations required her to report a change in assets within 10 days, but the state relies on "self -reporting" to determine a change in qualification status. The proposed law would have the state independently verify changes in status due to lottery winnings.

[AxelAnnie]

Did anyone see her being interviewed last night? Unbelievable. When questioned about it she said she thought she should be able to get the food stamps because she didn't have a job.

The interviewer said...but you won $1,000.000. Oh - says she: Yes, but you have to understand, I took a $500,000 lump sum, and the after taxes, it was only $400,000 (or something)........so really, it wasn't so much!

Unbelievable thought process!

[maatTheViking]

What I don't get is why the oversight is an extra thing? Couldn't they just use the IRS records? Don't you have to report income to the state?

[milanessa]

No, because what they are doing isn't illegal. There is currently a bill being proposed that would cross check anyone receiving benefits with people who've won more than $1,000 in the lottery. I think that will likely pass handily.

She didn't self-report an increase in assets so I think there might be a case for recovering the money. It's only a drip (less than a drop) in the bucket but the principle is worth upholding (IMO).

[milanessa]

What I don't get is why the oversight is an extra thing? Couldn't they just use the IRS records? Don't you have to report income to the state?

Only if that state has an income tax. Michigan does but the filing date is April 2012. Since she won the lottery in September 2011 that income wouldn't have been reported yet.