• Michigan could lose hundreds of millions of federal dollars under changes for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
• The federal government will penalize states that report a SNAP error rate of 6% or more 
• Michigan’s latest error rate is at 9.53% and the state health department is working to reduce it

Michigan may have to shell out upwards of $320 million to provide food aid to residents as new rules kick in for the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, starting in the 2028 fiscal year, the federal government will require states to cover at least 5% of the cost of SNAP benefits if they make too many mistakes, either through overpaying benefits or underpaying.

Under the new law, the federal government will penalize states that report a SNAP error rate of 6% or more.

Michigan’s SNAP error rate was 9.53% in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the US Department of Agriculture, while the national average was 10.93%. Only nine states had SNAP error rates less than 6%.

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How much the state would have to pay would rise depending on the error rate. At Michigan’s 2024 rate of  9.53%, the state would have to cover 10% of SNAP costs, or more than $320 million.

As a “worst case scenario,” Michigan would see a $481 million penalty to the state’s current SNAP benefits, David Knezek, chief operating officer of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, testified Tuesday at a state Senate appropriations subcommittee meeting.

If the error rate is anywhere above the federal threshold, the state would need to provide a minimum 5% cost share, totalling $160 million under recent figures.

Michigan paid $3.2 billion in SNAP benefits in the past fiscal year. A pause in the program during the federal government shutdown earlier this year wreaked havoc on hundreds of thousands of state residents who rely on government food assistance.