I mean screw things up even more. In 2005, the then majority Republicans in Congress went looking for a way to make sure those pesky brown people from below the southern border weren't destroying Medicaid, you know, by signing up for Medicaid for when they were sick, stuff like that. They did this by passing a rule that mandates that states check specific documents as proof of citizenship; such as a passport or birth certificate, driver's license or military record. Never mind that states have always been required to check a Medicaid applicant's eligibility, which includes citizenship. They just wanted to make sure, you know those Republicans. What have been the results? Follow me below the fold.
Above and following information is from the March 2008 edition on AARP Bulletin (not exactly your muckracking leftist journal).
Oklahoma has uncovered no illegal immigrants on its Medicaid rolls. However, more than 20,000 of its 700,000 Medicaid recipients have been dropped from the program, many of them Native Americans
not because they aren't citizens, but because they're having a tough time coming up with the right pieces of paper at the right time
says Mike Fogart, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Kansas has found one illegal immigrant on its Medicaid rolls.
Ah, but what about Arizona, playground of the coyotes who bring all those aliens across our borders. Surely Arizona will have a massive problem.
Arizona has filed two reports since the rule went into effect, each saying that the state uncovered "zero" illegal immigrants among its 1 million Medicaid recipients
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And what are the financial aspects of this rule?
A U.S. Government Accountability Office survey of the states last year found that the requirement caused eligib le U.S. citizens to lose Medicaid coverage while increasing administrative costs. A close analysis of six states showed that for every $100 spent to implement the rule, only 14 cents was saved
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As Donna Cohen Ross, an analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, a nonpartisan research organization said
This rule was the answer to a problem that really doesn't exist
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So congratualtion to our Republican friends. You've done it again! Solved a problem that didn't exist, while costing all of us more in taxes. Makes me so damned proud to be an American.