MDHHS outlines targeted fixes after federal review flags Michigan SNAP error rate

Michigan House oversight committee members pressed state officials on Monday over a rising SNAP payment error rate and its consequences under recent federal changes, while the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services outlined a multi-pronged plan of policy, workforce and technology fixes.

"The state’s error rate has climbed well above the national average," Chair Wolford said in opening remarks, calling the trend "alarming" and saying the committee’s goal was to understand what MDHHS is doing to restore federal compliance and public trust.

David Knesick, chief operating officer for MDHHS, told the committee the department views the issue as operational rather than primarily criminal: payment error rate calculations combine overpayments and underpayments identified through a federal quality-control (QC) sampling process and do not measure fraud. He said Michigan paid about $3.2 billion in SNAP benefits in fiscal 2024 and that changes in HR 1 will alter state costs and program requirements.

Knesick said HR 1 establishes tiered state cost-sharing linked to payment error rate bands, eliminated a $27,500,000 annual SNAP‑Ed grant primarily administered through MSU Extension and the Michigan Fitness Foundation, and shifts administrative matching from roughly 50/50 to 75/25 (state/federal) for a projected roughly $90,000,000 increase in state administrative costs.

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