Released: July 07, 2006

Citizen rules eased for Medicare

Source: By Susan Levine, Washington Post (Free Registration)

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.

The new regulations also will allow database matches with state records for men and women whose citizenship is on record through information they provided when qualifying for such things as food stamps or a driver’s license. Mark McLellan, administrator of the Medicare and Medicaid services center, said yesterday that such data matches could help exempt many more people. “Definitely in the millions,” he said during a teleconference.

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