{"id":235393,"date":"2026-04-17T09:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/235393\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:19:09","slug":"hayden-dublois-foresees-serious-fines-for-fraud-if-florida-cant-get-food-stamp-errors-under-wraps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/235393\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayden Dublois foresees serious fines for fraud if Florida can’t get food stamp errors under wraps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hayden Dublois still recalls a news report with a woman discussing breaking off a drug addiction and becoming financially independent. One phrase always stood out.<\/p>\n

\u201cJocelyn said, I quote, \u2018It was harder for me to get free from food stamps than it was for me to get free from heroin,\u2019\u201d Dublois recalls. \u201cThat is the crisis of dependency \u2014 not a crisis of bad people, but rather a crisis of toxic government policy that, under the guise of compassion, traps tens of millions of Americans from realizing their self-worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dublois today serves as Data and Analytics Director for The Foundation for Government Accountability<\/a>, an influential federal think tank founded in Naples. He spoke about the organization\u2019s mission as the keynote speaker for Florida TaxWatch\u2019s<\/a> Chairman\u2019s Dinner.<\/p>\n

He discussed the fight against fraud and waste at the state and national level, but also believed that social welfare programs for years served not as a \u201cwar on poverty,\u201d but a \u201cwar on work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Florida, despite years of efforts to limit spending, still has problems with its own food stamp program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida\u2019s food stamp error rate is 15.1%. That\u2019s not only worse than the national average, but it\u2019s actually among the five worst states in the nation,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the most recent fiscal year, Florida spent $920 million on improperly issued food stamp benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said massive welfare reform will be enforced in the wake of the One Big Beautiful Bill<\/a> signed by President Donald Trump last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, states will be required to cross-check their enrollment data against records from other states and against death records, and for the first time ever, states will need to prove their Medicaid waivers are budget-neutral before getting approval from the federal government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the changes will prove consequential for Florida. \u201cThese changes come with big consequences for states that don\u2019t act because the war on work is over. It\u2019s now a war on fraud,\u201d Dublois said.<\/p>\n

For example, if Florida\u2019s eligibility rate next year is one percentage point higher than the new national threshold, the state could face a $200 million fine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFood stamps have historically been 100% federally financed. Not anymore. States with high error rates will now bear a portion of those costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember when I said Florida had a food stamp error rate far above the national average? If Florida\u2019s error rate remains where it is today, state taxpayers, starting in Chicago, fiscal year 28, will be on the hook for, as I mentioned, another $990 million that will have to come out of our general fund in annual penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the problems were also keeping resources away from those truly in need. Florida has more than 20,000 people on a waiting list<\/a> for disability care, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why fixing our welfare programs is not just a question of dollars and cents,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a moral obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hayden Dublois still recalls a news report with a woman discussing breaking off a drug addiction and becoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,80195,410,104925,104926,62239],"class_list":["post-235393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-taxwatch","tag-food-stamps","tag-hayden-dublois","tag-the-foundation-for-government-accountability","tag-waste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}