Medicaid, Not All Is Swell
Thousands of low-income children have been unable to enroll in Virginia’s Medicaid program since July 1 because of new, tougher federal rules requiring proof of citizenship and identity, state officials said.
Officials for the state program for the poor and disabled said as many as 10,000 eligible children are living without health care largely because their families have been unable to present original birth certificates and other needed documentation to state or local Medicaid officials.
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The new federal rules, designed to curb fraud by illegal immigrants, require passports, birth certificates or other identifying documents to be shown when people apply for Medicaid benefits or during annual reenrollment in the program. Parents are also required to offer sworn affidavits as proof of a child’s identity.
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“We’re talking about families that don’t have a lot of resources,” said Shelby Gonzales, director of Partnership for Healthier Kids, a Fairfax County program run by Inova Health System. She and other advocates said families are showing up at social services departments looking for medical coverage but never follow through because of the extra layer of bureaucracy. “There are just a lot of practical reasons why it’s been difficult,” she said.
Birth certificates? Doesn’t one automatically receive a birth certificate at the moment one reports to state officials that a child has been born?
Passports: sure some people are poor, but it’s not as if one needs a passport every other month or so. In the Netherlands once every five years. Combine that with the costs…
I am sorry, I might sound cold here, but is this a problem caused by the US government, or by people themselves? If I am missing something, inform me, but ‘giving up due to the bureaucracy’? Well, bureaucracy is something like a natural enemy to me, but blaming bureaucracy for not doing something that’s necessary for one’s (child’s) health…
54 Responses to “Medicaid, Not All Is Swell”
I still think the poor can turn to social workers to help them get documentation for their kids-that’s what they are there for. Any program that is seen to be subject to fraudulent abuse will also be subject to budget cuts. If cost is an issue, I’d be open to removing that barrier. But I still think in this day and age, everyone should have ID.
MvgD,
Read above about 5-7 comments and you will see that a Passport in the US is $97, plus you must provide your own photo, usually runs around $10. It takes roughly 2-3 months to get that passport back btw.
I just moved to Kansas from Texas, my new Drivers license was $45. I had to show two forms of ID, one w/ photo which could be a passport or military ID, or another Government issued ID. The closest place to my new home to get that DL..about 5 miles. The public transportation system doesn’t run out where I live. So if I had no car, I’d be walking. Lucky for me I don’t make $5.15/hr. Which translates to $41/day. So if I made minimum wage, I’d have to spend a days wages to get a drivers license. Not to mention I’d have to take some time away from work to go get it.
And Tommy,
As for going on Saturday.
The hours are Tuesday-Friday 7:00-5:45. This is for a DL only. Your idea on a 2 month period to get someone through until they got their ID (birth cert, etc) was probably a good idea, how it goes into action, who knows.
chmbrln
Ummm….yeah. You are going to do none of those 5 things, yet you are somehow going to be making minimum wage doing none of those things. Sure. Either you are making minimum wage and have means of getting to where you need to go (or internet access if you are working for some stay-at-home company) or you are on public assistance and you have time to be doing what you need to do.
No excuses.
I work as a volunteer for a non-profit agency that advocates for foster children. All children in the foster care system automatically become eligible for their state’s medicare program. Social workers are able to enroll them without birth certificates because of the children’s circumstances (being removed for neglect and/or abuse). As soon as the records are obtained, the social workers file the information with the provider.
Low income parents who have not had children removed have access through several means to social workers to assist them in obtaining their child’s birth certificate (food stamp recipients, WIC recipients, Aid for Dependant Children Recipients, free lunch program in public school, etc). All of the social workers I work with are more than happy to help these parents or to direct them to proper agency. Additionally, most public schools in the U. S. now require a copy of a child’s birth certificate for enrollment.
The only ones I know of where this may not be required is when the child is an illegal alien. The children still qualify for school lunches, immunizations, (free in most counties), etc…
Just my 2 cents.