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The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "The New Medicaid Citizenship Requirement: A Brief Overview"
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- Resource Type
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Charts, Memos and Other Resources
- Description
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This report, prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, examines the February, 2006 provision requiring all Medicaid applicants and recipients to provide a birth certificate or passport to become eligible for the program. While the provision was passed as an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from being covered by Medicaid, it is more likely to create unnecessary challenges to a significant number of low-income U.S. citizens.
The federal government's new requirement is this: people claiming to be citizens must provide documentation of citizenship to the Medicaid program. In other words - eligibility has not changed, but there is a new documentation requirement. This is only required of citizens; there is no new Medicaid documentation required from people who are green card holders, or PRUCOL (Permanently Residing Under Color of Law).
You do not need to be a US citizen in order to be allowed to use the Medicaid program. Using Medicaid does not have negative immigration consequences.
Most naturalized US citizens are in a good position to provide this documentation. The documentation is more likely to be a challenge for US-born citizens who don't have their birth certificates. Citizenship documentation is not required for lawful permanent residents or other non-citizens who are eligible for the Medicaid program - the new requirement applies only to citizens.
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Click here to download this document [ 212.35 kB ]
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2006-April-20
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