Labor adds 48 state programs to GovBenefits portal

With the relaunch of the portal, the Labor Department today took a huge step toward integrating federal and state programs, officials said.Patrick Pizzella, assistant secretary for administration and management and Labor CIO, said the department has taken concrete actions to providing “a single place for both federal and state benefit program information.”Labor added 48 benefit programs from 20 states, including Medicaid, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and children’s health insurance programs.Along with the new programs, Labor officials redesigned the site’s home page with expanded search capabilities for federal and state information. Officials also streamlined their questionnaire so users have to answer few questions and see what they qualify for as they fill out the survey. Labor originally launched GovBenefits with 55 federal programs in May 2002.