States and Privatization of Food Stamp Program

Companies still key to welfare fix, By Angela Mapes Turner, December 2, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s proposed fix to its welfare system includes handing the bulk of supervisory duties back to state employees. But those employees number only a third of what they did before the state’s failed attempt to privatize welfare processing, and the preliminary plan appears at odds with a recent federal caution against privatization. Documents obtained by The Journal Gazette outline the state’s hybrid plan to fix the system. The draft outline indicates Vanderburgh County – an early participant in privatization in 2007 and a squeaky wheel in bringing problems to light – might be first to launch a new system in January. According to the documents, Indiana’s plan continues to rely heavily on private, for-profit companies, despite a caution from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the federally funded food stamp program, warning states against such contracts…”