The regulation goes into effect in July and could be an administrative nightmare for those states--the vast majority of them--that have used less stringent measures to authenticate citizenship. Not surprisingly, several states have asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a delay in implementing the regulation or for permission to use a wider range of documentation. This week, California took the matter into its own hands. State officials announced yesterday that they would delay enforcement.
The concern is not just about whether or not illegal immigrants getting free health care through Medicaid will be routed out and dropped from the rolls but that many other beneficiaries lack the documentation even though they are legitimately enrolled.
In many states, there are numerous poor and elderly recipients whose families go back generations in this country but who don't have such documents or even access to getting them. And many low-income families who are what you might call document-challenged. Moreover, state officials are well aware that a demand to produce documentation--of income or any other record--decreases the beneficiary rolls, be it TANF or SCHIP or food stamps. All of which makes the new mandate for specific documentation more than a little scary.
