11126 Collecting Claims - The following special procedures apply when initiating collection action on claims.
In TANF the amount of retained current child support received in the month at issue which is in excess of the correct benefit amount, must also be applied to reduce the overpayment. If the support is not retained by the agency or is less than the correct benefit amount, the overpayment collection is not affected by the support amount.
For cash and medical purposes, all overpayments are subject to recovery including special needs payments.
For fraud claims, collection action shall first be initiated against the household which contained the household member found to have committed fraud and which received the overissuance for which the claim was established. If a change in household membership occurs, collection action shall be initiated against any or all households which has a member who was an adult member of the household that received the fraud overissuance.
For all types of claims, the amount of the claim may be offset with lost benefits owed to any household which contains a member who was an adult member of the original household that received an overissuance.
Child Care - When an overpayment is identified, the agency shall determine the cause and set up a plan for repayment, including the use of benefit reduction.
11126.1 Methods of Collecting Payments - Claims shall be collected in one of the following ways:
If the household requests renegotiation, but the CCU feels that the household's economic circumstances have not changed enough to warrant the requested settlement (such as the fact that the household's source of income has not changed) then the CCU may continue renegotiation until a settlement can be reached.
A notice of action shall be sent to inform the household of the restored benefit amount and the amount still due on the claim or the amount of restored benefits due after applying them to any outstanding claim.
NOTE: See KEES User Manual to determine how overpayment can be offset from lost benefits.
When benefit reduction is being utilized the regular benefit shall be reduced as follows; or the client may agree to a larger benefit reduction amount:
Food Assistance - The benefit shall be reduced by the greater of 20% of the household's monthly entitlement or $20 per month.
Cash and Child Care - The benefit shall be reduced by the greater of 20% of the household’s monthly benefit or $10 per month.
NOTE: If the individual is receiving child care for work programs, before recoupment is initiated, a supervisor must indicate in writing on the case log that recoupment is appropriate.
Food Assistance - The benefit shall be reduced by the greater of 10% of the household's monthly benefit or $10 per month. See NOTE in (a) above.
Cash and Child Care - The benefit shall be reduced by the greater of 10% of the household’s monthly benefit or $10 per month.
NOTE: If benefit reduction is occurring for an agency or client error claim, and the household subsequently has a fraud claim established, the agency should cease benefit collection on the agency/client error claim and initiate benefit reduction on the fraud claim.
If the overpayment is a result of an understated spenddown, the total amount of the overpayment cannot exceed the understated amount. If the overpayment is a result of excess resources, the total amount of the overpayment shall be the amount of claims paid (or subject to be paid) for the ineligible period not to exceed the amount by which the total nonexempt resources exceed the allowable resource level. (See 5130.) If the value of the total nonexempt resources vary during the ineligible period, the highest value obtained for that period shall be used. If ineligibility exists for a reason other than excess resources, the total amount of the overpayment shall be equal to the amount of claims paid (or subject to be paid) for the ineligible period.
When the amount of the overpayment has been determined and there are resources to recover from, the client may voluntarily choose to make a repayment to the agency. If the client does not choose to make a lump sum repayment, a special spenddown shall be created in an amount equal to the amount to be recovered and shall be considered in the current eligibility base period.
Medical expenses may be counted against the special spenddown requirements if the expense is:
Medical expenses shall first be counted against regular spenddown requirements and then the special spenddown requirements.
The special spenddown mechanism may be used to recover medical program overpayments for both automatic and determined eligibles. There is no necessity that a client have a regular spenddown. However, special spenddown shall not be used in the Medicaid poverty level or Title 21 programs. If a special spenddown mechanism is used on regular spenddown cases, it is necessary for the client to report all medical expenses incurred until both spenddowns have been met. They may extend over more than one base period. If the client fails to provide the agency with this information and he reapplies at a later date, the special spenddown shall be considered to be unmet.
Treasury Offset Program (Food Assistance Only) - The Treasury Offset Program (TOP) (formerly FTROP) was established to collect recipient claims from Federal income tax refunds, Federal salaries and other federal payments. Any type of claim can be collected through TOP. TOP is housed in the Central Collection Unit in Topeka.
The following describes generally what must be met before a claim will be considered for collection through TOP:
11126.2 Special Criteria for Initiating Collection Action on Fraud Claims - If a household member is found to have committed fraud (by any of the means described in 11200), collection action shall be initiated against the individual's household. In addition, a personal contact shall be made with the household, if possible. Such collection action shall be initiated unless the household has already repaid the overissuance. See 11280.
11126.3 Claims Discharged through Bankruptcy - If local agency staff have knowledge of bankruptcy proceedings against any household owing a food assistance, cash or child care claim, Central Office Legal Department shall be notified immediately and the local agency shall cease collection activity pending the outcome of the court proceedings. Collection action should be resumed (or initiated) after and in conformance with the final court action.
NOTE: To cease collection activity pending the outcome of bankruptcy proceedings, food assistance, cash and child care claims should be terminated (TE). A claim status reason code of BK (bankruptcy) is to be entered in the Status Reason field on OVCA when the claim is terminated. If the household has declared bankruptcy and the claim(s) are included in a civil or criminal judgment, the code of JB (judgment-bankruptcy) shall be entered in the Status Reason field. Claims must not be deleted. Because bankruptcy activities are rare, claims involved in bankruptcy shall be referred to the Central Office Legal Department for all necessary actions. Also see 11129.
11126.4 Interstate Food Assistance Claims Collection - In certain situations, the local agency becomes aware of the fact that a household which has moved into this state from another state has a claim against it in the previous state. If the former state does not take action against the household to collect the claim, this state may initiate action to collect the claim (and vice-versa). When a local office becomes aware of such a situation, the former state should be contacted to verify that collection action is currently not being taken against the household and to verify the type and amount of claim on which a balance is still due. Once documentation of the claim and the current balance is received, a claim must be established on KAECSES for the current claim balance. Send a demand letter and initiate collection action per 11125 and 11126.1.
11126.5 Refund of Over Collected Food Assistance Benefits - If the agency should collect more benefits than are due on a claim, the amount over collected must promptly be refunded to the household. Under the EBT system, the only means to refund over collected benefits is to issue restored benefits. The local agency shall be responsible for notifying the household that a refund has been processed, and for notifying the EBT Unit (e-mail to EBTMAIL) of the case name, case number, and amount of the refund.
11126.6 Expunged Benefits - Expunged food assistance, cash and child care benefits for a client are to be used to reduce the amount of any active claims that the client has. Expunged benefits are benefits that have been aged off and not returned to the KAECSES and/or KsCares system and EBT account within 12 months for food assistance, and 90 days for cash and child care, from the date they were initially made available. These benefits can not be used as payment on a claim. See Appendix Item V-1, EBT System Guide, Item (25) and KEESM 11130.
11127 Terminating Claims -
The above terminations may be done by field staff or TOP Administration staff if so requested.
A payment, such as from debt set-off, may be applied to a terminated claim if received.