I was going to try and come up with a clever, sarcastic introduction to this story, but it’s so absurd that there’s nothing more I could add. The government has begun tightening Medicaid policies… for newborn babies. That’s right, where newborns were once eligible for Medicaid for their first year based purely on the mother’s financial need at the birth, there is now an application process requiring proof of citizenship. The purpose? I have to say I’m not quite sure. I can understand (whether or not I agree with) a concern that undocumented immigrants may be illegaly recieving Medicaid, but guess what- a child born in the US is a US citizen!
By requiring identification and proof of citizenship, the government is discouraging non-citizen parents from applying for assistance for their (legal US citizen) children. At best, an application process will still delay the reciept of financial assistance by several weeks (processing time). The result? The country’s youngest and neediest citizens will be denied vital care from the very beginning of their lives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/washington/03medicaid.html?ref=us
Vermont Girl 