Lost my SNAP benefits this month for no good reason
I am a permanently disabled senior citizen in Louisiana and I want to sound the alarm about SNAP. There have been recent news articles about people losing SNAP benefits in Louisiana simply because they aren't beng recertified. I want to come forward and say that I am one of those people.
It was time for my SNAP recertification several weeks ago. They sent me a letter and I immediately responded. I followed up with phone calls and emails. The website didn't work so I emailed my attachments to show proof of my SSDI income. The automated phone system suddenly doesn't recognize my Social Security number even though I have lived in Louisiana for 23 years. Finally they fixed the website so I could upload the documents through the portal and complete the online portion of the application.
But uploading the documents is only half the battle. You have to go through the additional step of a caseworker setting up a telephone interview with you. September came and went for me without that ever happening. It's October 1, and as you can see from the screenshot above, no SNAP benefits are scheduled for me, through no fault of my own.
The page you see here has an option to submit questions to your caseworker about the progress of your redetermination application. No one ever called or wrote back. I kept calling and just got "your caseworker will call you" for a response. No redetermination interview was ever scheduled in all the weeks I kept trying to resolve this.
On September 30, 2026, an incoming call bounced into my voicemail from a caseworker saying "We have updated your case." Where? Not on the website and not in the database when I called back and spoke to someone in the SNAP call center. They told me the case was still open and that whenever they finally got around to doing the interview, I would be reimbursed retroactively. Really? When will that be???
So they haven't kicked me off but they didn't schedule any benefits either. How many vulnerable people are affected by this bureaucratic logjam statewide? Seniors? Disabled? Children?
The other thing I want to show you is proof that disabled seniors in Louisiana like me really do receive the Federal minimum allowed of only $24.00 in SNAP benefits per month. I see so many people online seething with hatred toward the families who get hundreds of dollars a month in SNAP benefits, but they don't understand how little single disabled adults are getting at the same time. Now you've seen it with your own eyes.
This is totally unacceptable to leave vulnerable Louisiana citizens in limbo. I hope someone sees this post and can get it into the right hands.