Prime cuts: Swift slashes welfare fraud investigators. (News Watch).(Massachusetts Acting Gov. Jane Swift)(from the Boston Herald)(Brief Article)(Reprint)

Policy & Practice of Public Human Services, March, 2002

Boston Herald A state agency whose investigators recoup and prevent millions in welfare fraud was abolished by the Swift Administration in an effort to save $500,000. Acting Governor Jane Swift used the budget ax to cut 63 of the agency's 68 investigators and the welfare fraud hotline because of the growing deficit.

According to state figures, the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), an arm of the state Department of Revenue, recovers roughly $100,000 in fraudulent welfare benefits for each of its investigators, who earn an average of $54,000. In addition, the federal government, which requires states receiving money from Washington to investigate fraud and waste, reimburses the state about 60 percent of the money BSI recovers. A Swift...

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