Fraught early rollout of cash payments to Medicaid, SNAP recipients - Axios Atlanta

2022-09-24 05:41:07 By : Ms. Bernice Lau

Axios Atlanta is an Axios company.

The rollout of cash assistance payments that Gov. Brian Kemp allocated to Medicaid SNAP and TANF recipients isn't going smoothly for everyone.

Driving the news: The Department of Human Services, which is administering the $350 payments, has been beset by complaints from people having trouble accessing or using the funds at certain stores.

Catch up quick: Kemp announced $1 billion of the state's federal COVID relief dollars would go towards these payments to adults and children last month.

What they're saying: Thousands of people have been commenting on the department's Facebook page in the last day. One post garnered 5,500 comments and shares within two hours.

Angel Butts of Fairburn, Ga. told Axios the virtual card was declined at gas stations, a grocery store and at Walmart. She said she had to leave a cart full of groceries at the Walmart register when the payment wouldn't work.

The other side: In a statement to Axios, the department's Communications Director Kylie Winton said that more than $70 million in payments have already been claimed, "with tens of millions of dollars already spent at thousands of locations."

Details: The state restricted the funds from any "illegal" purchases or purchases of things like gaming, adult entertainment, liquor, tobacco or firearms, but no one contacted by Axios said they were buying such items when the card was declined.

In a Facebook comment, Jennifer Young wrote: "Y'all can just keep my fake Monopoly money...save us the embarrassment of going shopping and getting declined in front of half your town and having to walk out with your kids not understanding what's happening."

Jessica Fields of Rochelle, Ga. said after two days of hunting she has only been able to use the cards at one of fifteen gas stations, only sporadically at one McDonalds and only online at Walmart.

Of note: According to Facebook comments, others have struggled without phones new enough to facilitate digital wallet apps, or struggled in smaller towns to find stores that even accept tap-to-pay payments.

Yes, but: Some recipients have reported on social media that they were able to use the funds. Butts says she was eventually able to use it on Walmart.com and to pay an online electric bill. But the uncertainty of where it will work, she said, remains frustrating.

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