California To Delay Medicaid Citizenship Rule Enforcement

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

California To Delay Medicaid Citizenship Rule Enforcement
 
Source: California Healthline (http://www.californiahealthline.org) 
Date: June 7, 2006 

  
California health officials on Tuesday said they are postponing the enforcement of a new
federal law that will require Medicaid enrollees and applicants to show proof of U.S.
citizenship, the Los Angeles Times reports (Lin, Los Angeles Times, 6/7). 

Under the measure, signed into law by President Bush in February, individuals seeking
care through Medicaid as of July 1 will be required to show proof of U.S. citizenship --
such as a birth certificate, passport or another form of identification. The law's intent
is to prevent undocumented immigrants from claiming to be citizens in order to receive
benefits provided only to legal residents (California Healthline, 6/5). 

An estimated 650,000 of seven million beneficiaries of Medi-Cal might not have the proper
documentation to prove citizenship, according to the California Budget Project. 

California officials decided to delay enforcement of the new rule because HHS has not
released federal guidelines, which are still under revision. 

Stan Rosenstein, deputy director of medical care services in the Department of Health
Services, said that because the guidelines have not been released, the state has not had
time to establish plans for counties, prepare workers and inform Medi-Cal patients about
the new requirement. Rosenstein added that until the state enforces the rule, neither
patients nor physicians will be reprimanded if documentation is not provided. 

When the state obtains federal guidance on the rule, which might come this week,
California likely will draft and issue rules for county social service agencies by
mid-summer, according to Rosenstein. The new rules will be implemented after the state
and county government can inform enrollees of the new requirements, he said. 

The state's decision to delay enforcement of the new rule could contradict federal law,
but it is uncertain whether federal officials will take action against the state, the
Times reports. 

 
Comments
Rosenstein said he would like HHS to expand the types of documents allowed to verify
eligibility to include military discharge records and sworn affidavits, among other
forms. 

Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California,
said he was concerned that hospitals and emergency rooms could see more uninsured
patients if the rule is not carefully implemented (Los Angeles Times, 6/7).  


For more information, please visit:
http://www.californiahealthline.org/index.cfm?action=dspItem&itemID=122151&changedID=122138



Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service
University of California, Irvine

The CAL/AAEM Archives are available at: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/calaaem/


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