Review of Overpayment Collections by Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) by Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services System (HHSS)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The objective of this review was to determine whether the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services System (HHSS) has continued to properly identify, collect, and remit the federal share of AFDC overpayment collections to the Federal Government after the AFDC program was repealed.  The HHSS made only one payment for the federal share of AFDC overpayment collections made between October 1, 1996 and December 31, 2001.  That payment totaled $21,654 and covered only the federal share of cash collections made in October and November 1996.  The federal share of benefit reductions applied by the state for that period was not remitted.  No payments were made to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for the federal share of overpayment collections since a new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), was implemented on December 1, 1996.  Instead, AFDC overpayment collections were incorrectly applied to the new program.   We estimated the federal share of AFDC overpayments that the HHSS may have collected between October 1, 1996 and December 31, 2001 to be about $2 million.