Citizens Who Lack Papers Lose Medicaid-Another One of Bush's Screw Ups!

A new federal rule intended to keep illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid has instead shut out tens of thousands of United States citizens who have had difficulty complying with requirements to show birth certificates and other documents proving their citizenship, state officials say.
Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.
Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways, for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of people who don’t qualify for Medicaid because they cannot produce proof of citizenship,” said Albert A. Zimmerman, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families. “Nearly all of these people are American citizens.”
“Congress wanted to crack down on illegal immigrants who got Medicaid benefits by pretending to be U.S. citizens,” Mr. Jones said. “But the law is hurting U.S. citizens, throwing up roadblocks to people who need care, at a time when we in Wisconsin are trying to increase access to health care.”
This figures-everywhere you go you hear people talking about Health Care and I, for one, cannot afford Insurance. One of the Hot Issues in the '08 Presidential Campaign is will be Health Care, yet Bush has made it even more difficult for some of us to get it. Leave it to him to screw even this up. We are a Nation of people "on the move" and it is difficult to get original copies of these documents and some States will accept nothing less. One barrier to access to Health Care is that our elected Officials don't want to lose the backing of the Private Insurance companies so they can't seem to figure out a way to provide Health Care without eliminating the big money from Insurance Companies. In My View of It, this should be the least of their concerns when it comes to this issue.

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