After smooth beginnings in south central, eastern, and northwest Kansas, the Kansas Vision Card will make its debut in Southwest Kansas March 1.

The Kansas Vision Card is the debit card being used in the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program.

The Kansas Vision Card allows people eligible for Food Stamps to use a plastic card to purchase food at participating stores. Persons eligible for cash assistance either through the Temporary Assistance for Families (formerly the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program) or the General Assistance program will also use the EBT card to access cash assistance.

On March 1, it will begin being used in the Garden City SRS management area, which includes the following counties:

Greeley, Wichita, Scott, Lane, Grant, Ness, Kearny, Hamilton, Finney, Morton, Hodgeman, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Stanton, Stevens, Seward, Meade, Clark, Edwards, Stafford, Kiowa, Pratt, Comanche and Barber.

Some of the benefits of moving to an EBT system and away from distribution of benefits through the mail are as follows:

*Improve, and speed up, the delivery of Food Stamps and cash

benefits to clients and eliminate the mail loss of Food Stamp benefits;

*Provide a reliable and less stigmatic method for eligible recipients to purchase food for their families;

*Provide a more effective system of fraud detection, prevention.

In the counties already using the Kansas Vision Card, there have been few problems. Both Deluxe Data Systems, the contractor hired by SRS to install the new system, and SRS staff have been involved in extensive client training as each new county joins the EBT system.

"For the size of the change, the number of problems have been kept to a minimum," said SRS Secretary Rochelle Chronister.

The Kansas Vision Card functions like other financial industry debit and credit magnetic stripe cards. But the state, rather than a financial institution, issues the cards to recipients. The state maintains a database with authorized benefit account information. When the recipient uses the card, his or her benefit account is reduced by the amount of food purchased or cash withdrawn.

Clients may access cash and Food Stamp benefits from point-of-sale (POS) terminals at food stores or automated teller machines (ATM).

For clients, the Kansas Vision Card works like this:

At participating food stores, recipients hand the Kansas Vision Card to the cashier who runs the card through a POS terminal after ringing up the groceries purchased. Then the cashier will hand a 'pin pad' to the recipient, who will key in a four-digit personal identification number (PIN) known only to the recipient. The dollar amount of purchased food will automatically be deducted from the recipient's monthly benefit.

Food Stamp transactions can only occur at authorized Food Stamp food retailers. Cash benefit transactions can occur at both POS terminals and ATMs. Each type of transaction requires the client to use his card and enter a four-digit PIN number for the transaction to work.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001