Press Release: 4/16/2026

Rampant Welfare Growth in Massachusetts Leaves Taxpayers on the Hook

Massachusetts has one of the most expansive welfare states in the nation, frequently ranking in the top five or ten states in terms of welfare benefit spending and generosity. The Fiscal Alliance Foundation just released a new study on some of the top welfare programs, and the findings should concern every taxpayer. The study, authored by the Foundation’s visiting policy analyst Hayden Dublois, is the organization’s first comprehensive analysis of welfare spending in Massachusetts and highlights significant concerns about growth, oversight, and long-term sustainability.



The Foundation undertook this study to shed light on the rapid growth of Massachusetts’s welfare system and to examine whether existing safeguards are keeping pace, as taxpayers deserve greater transparency and accountability for programs that now consume a significant share of the state budget. Concerns about welfare fraud are increasingly making headlines nationwide, and with U.S. Attorney Leah Foley highlighting efforts to crack down on abuse in public assistance programs, the need for stronger oversight in Massachusetts has never been clearer.



Here’s some of what we found:

 




  • Today, nearly $1 in every $4 out of Massachusetts’s budgetary expenditures goes towards Medicaid alone

  • On a per capita basis, Massachusetts has the highest SNAP and TANF enrollment figures in New England, and the second-highest Medicaid enrollment in New England.

  • Massachusetts’s rate of 1,208 TANF recipients per 100,000 residents is double the national average and nearly 50 percent greater than the New England average.

  • SNAP enrollment has surged 40 percent over the past decade, growing from just under 785,000 recipients in 2015 to more than 1.1 million today

    More than $1 billion in benefits were issued improperly between 2022 and 2024 alone

  • Massachusetts now has a 1 percent SNAP error rate, higher than every other New England state and one of the highest in the country

  • This error rate stands in marked contrast to neighboring New England states like Vermont and New Hampshire, which have error rates of 5.1% and 7.5%, among the lowest in the country



That error rate isn’t just a statistic.



Under new federal rules, states with error rates above 6 percent will soon be required to share in the cost of those errors. That means Massachusetts taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars more if Beacon Hill doesn’t begin to take responsibility for the problem.





Watch Our Video Breakdown of the Study Results here.



The study also highlights serious concerns about fraud and oversight, including a whistleblower account describing “rampant” abuse and a system where basic eligibility verification is often discouraged. At the same time, between 65 and 75 percent of able-bodied SNAP recipients are not working, and state policies still allow individuals to qualify for benefits regardless of how much they have in the bank.



And SNAP is just part of the picture.



Medicaid now consumes nearly one out of every four state budget dollars, with spending up nearly 50 percent over the past decade. TANF caseloads have grown while work requirements have weakened, and housing and homelessness spending has more than doubled, with emergency shelter costs approaching $1 billion.



More than a billion dollars in improper SNAP payments in just two years is not a rounding error, it is a complete failure of oversight. Taxpayers are being asked to fund a system where fraud is ignored, safeguards are weakened, and accountability is treated as optional. That is unacceptable.



This is the result of years of Beacon Hill prioritizing expansion over everything else.



Costs are rising. Oversight is weakening. And taxpayers are being left to pick up the tab.



We published this study together to shine a light on what’s really happening and to push for the reforms Massachusetts urgently needs.



You can read a complete copy of the study here: https://www.fiscalalliancefoundation.org/massachusetts_welfare_spending_skyrockets_as_oversight_declines_and_fraud_surges



You will see all the data and the reforms we are outlining to prevent more fraud and abuse.