Disruption In Service For Over A Million Bridge, WIC Card Users In Michigan

DETROIT (WWJ) - Over a million people on public assistance in Michigan could have experienced some trouble making grocery purchases on Thursday.

Michigan and a number of other states dealt with interruptions in Electronic Benefits Transactions - or EBT -- and those who use Bridge or WIC cards weren't able to buy anything during that time.

The interruption occured the first time Thursday morning for about 90 minutes, then again in the afternoon for about an hour.

The system is back up, but Bob Wheaton, with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, says they're looking into what caused the interruption.

"We have disruptions from time to time -- these were on the longer end," said Wheaton. "But oviously any disruption is not good and I think it impacted fewer people in the morning -- 7:30 a.m. -- there aren't as many people doing their shopping at that point but then when it happened at 3:05 p.m. - that's a time when there are more people out trying to make purchases."

About 1.3 million people in Michigan are on public assistance.