“…in order to prevent undocumented families from obtaining benefits illicitly, a problem that could not even be verified, Congress mandated (under a provision of th eDRA) that all Medicaid recipients must submit proof of their citizenship and identity. Implemented in 2006, everyone subject ot the new law has to produce a birth certificate, passport, certificate of naturalization, or other designated papers.”
Did these efforts work?
According to Kevin Concannon, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services:
“The largest adverse effect of this policy has been on people who are American citizens…[W]e have not turned up many undocumented immigrants receiving Medicaid in Waterloo, Dubuque or anywhere else in Iowa.”
- Laura Katz Olson. The Politics of Medicaid. Columbia University Press, 416 pages, June 7, 2010.