Bush drops passport requirement for disabled and nursing home residents

[kurth]

Citizenship Rules Eased For Medicaid
By Susan Levine
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 7, 2006; A04

More than 8 million people will not have to provide further evidence of their citizenship in order to get Medicaid benefits, under regulations issued late yesterday by the federal government. Among the groups exempted will be seniors and people with disabilities who have Medicare or SSI, as Supplemental Security Income is commonly called. Because they have provided documentation as required in those programs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agreed that they should be excluded from a new citizenship rule.

The rule, which took effect Saturday, requires Medicaid recipients to prove they are U.S. citizens through a passport, birth certificate or other records. Passed as part of last year's Deficit Reduction Act, the rule is intended to keep illegal immigrants from receiving benefits. Many critics fear that Americans entitled to coverage will be unable to produce the paperwork needed...

More than 50 million poor and disabled Americans depend on Medicaid, a state and federally funded program, to pay for medical or nursing home care...

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, called the exemptions "a commendable development." However, he noted that the latest action still will not help beneficiaries such as foster children and the homeless. "This should be corrected," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/06/AR2006070601734.html

[Debi]

1. I just received the notice from DHS about the requirement

I wonder if I still need to provide the information (that they already have since it's what was needed to apply for disability in the first place) from me. :shrug: