In the wake of new federal data about food benefits — which could potentially cost New Mexico hundreds of millions of dollars — advocates at New Mexico Voices for Children urged the public to remember the newly released state error rates should not be mistaken for fraud rates.
According to the newest numbers on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, New Mexico has an overall error rate of 16.81%, far outpacing the national average of 10.62%.
Emily Wildau, director of policy for New Mexico Voices for Children, said because of President Trump’s tax and spend act from last year that error rate could leave New Mexico on the hook for about $170 million.
“Currently the federal government has the whole pot of money that covers SNAP benefits,” Wildau said, “and depending on what tier you end up in, based on your error rate, you then have to pay a percentage of that instead of the federal government.”
The Trump administration has made numerous statements that there is widespread fraud, waste and abuse in the SNAP program. Wildau stressed the error rate is not an indicator of fraud or criminal activity, but rather administrative mistakes. She said fraud represents a minute portion of SNAP issues that often involves retailers or scams targeting recipients, rather than individuals intentionally seeking extra benefits.
Wildau said although potential abuse by recipients gets a lot of attention in public discourse, it’s not something that warrants massive resources.
“It's more important to make sure the people that really need this program are able to access it,” she said, “and to improve the processes, so that those errors in over- and under-payment are decreased for the purpose of helping the people that actually need this benefit.”
The error rate actually measures if households received the exact benefit amount they were eligible for under SNAP’s complex rules.
Many times, she said, the errors boil down to recipients misunderstanding reporting requirements.
“In New Mexico, it's often an overpayment,” she said. “When that's identified, families are impacted because that benefit gets paid back.”
The cost sharing with the federal government will go into effect in October of 2027, but Wildau said the worst states will get another two years to implement changes and try to get the rate down. New Mexico is currently ranked third for most error rates nationally.
State officials said last year they are working to soften the blow of SNAP changes in New Mexico. But Wildau said she hasn’t felt a lot of urgency from state lawmakers for this particular issue. She said although there have been some conversations about how to pay that $170 million bill if it ever comes due, it hasn’t been widely discussed. State officials have been operating in a “holding pattern,” she said, because of the two year delay and anticipated federal changes.
“Hoping that perhaps after midterms Congress might look different,” she said, “and they might be able to pass a Farm Bill that undoes some of this, so I think there have not been a lot of concrete conversations yet about what we do in the event that this cost does hit the state.”
A report by the Legislative Finance Committee in June found that while SNAP has relatively low rates of confirmed fraud, the state Healthcare Authority is “under-investigating and under-identifying fraudulent activity.” The LFC recommended the agency strengthen its performance management of field offices and require regular data checks of verifications of self-reported eligibility data.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
