A new Medicaid rule goes into effect tomorrow, one that requires for people on Medicaid to prove their US Citizenship by providing their passport or original birth certificate or lose their benefits or long-term care. This bill is intended to keep illegal immigrants from getting Medicaid benefits, the theory being that they shouldn't recieve from a system they don't contribute to.
Unfortunately, this measure may have horrendous consequences for other groups:
Critics fear that the provision will have the unintended consequence of harming several million U.S. citizens who, for a variety of reasons, will not be able to produce the necessary paperwork. They include mentally ill, mentally retarded and homeless people, as well as elderly men and women, especially African Americans born in an era when hospitals in the rural South barred black women from their maternity wards.
The new provision is part of last year's Deficit Reduction Act, which President Bush signed into law in February. Despite a federal inspector general's report concluding that there was little fraud by noncitizens, supporters said the measure would ensure that Medicaid dollars go only to citizens or eligible immigrants.
(emphasis mine)
The consequences of this measure seem to be hitting a Bush Administration trifecta: making life harder for the ill, the elderly, and African-Americans.
Some lawmakers have called for a delay in the implementation of the bill, but the strongest supporter has been Georgia 9th District Representative Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. He said the measure would bring an end to "outright theft" from Medicaid by illegal immigrants.
Among the plaintiffs in that case are Ruby Bell, 95, born in an Arkansas county that did not issue birth certificates until 1914, and George Crawford, 80, who is so incapacitated from strokes that he cannot speak. According to attorneys, the church members who care for Crawford in Illinois don't even know where to start looking for documents that would pass muster.
I'm urging everyone to call Representative Norwoods office and tell him that he can not burden the poor, the ill, and the disenfranchised simply to look tough on illegal immigration. He can be reached the following ways:
Washington, DC
2452 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4101
Fax: (202) 226-0776
Also, please call your Representatives and Senators and ask them to delay the implementation of this measure. Congress goes into recess on July 31st, and the measure goes into effect tomorrow. Time is limited!
Source (Washington Post)