NEW WELFARE CARDS HOLD REFORM PROMISE

Missourians entitled to food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families have entered the age of plastic-card transactions with the new Electronic Benefits Transfer system.

The system eliminates paper food stamps and government checks, replacing them with a debit card that is issued to each welfare recipient. The recipient, who gets a personal identification number, simply presents the card at a grocery story for food entitlements or at a grocery store or bank for temporary assistance money. The changeover from paper to plastic was mandated by the federal welfare reform law that went into effect last year. The law requires all states to implement the EBT system for food stamps by 2002.

Missouri Department of Social Services officials, grocery store managers and an official of the Missouri Grocers Association all applauded the system in a series of Southeast Missourian articles published the week before Southeast Missouri welfare recipients began widespread use of the EBT card on Sept. 1. One of its chief benefits should be a reduction in welfare-stamp fraud and stolen and forged government checks, the Social Services Department officials said. One official said the No. 1 reason Missouri was anxious to start the system was to reduce fraud.

Welfare fraud is rampant. About one-third of the more than $426.3 million in food stamps disbursed by Missouri last year were cashed by recipients and not used to buy food at all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the food-stamp program, has found that nationwide 40 percent of retailers who accept food stamps have defrauded the system is one way or another.

The EBT card has several features that should help cut down on fraud. Every card is protected by a four-digit security personal identification number and contains the picture of the user. Each time a card is used, the retailer, the amount of the purchase, the time of day and other information is recorded.

If the new system, with all of its fraud-resistant features, reduces the amount of cheating going on by just 50 percent, it will be considered a success. But dishonest people have a way of cracking the best security features, and they will find ways to do so with the EBT system.

That is why it will be important to keep a close watch on the system, to crack down on those who try to defraud it, and implement even more secure procedures when they are warranted.