Speech #1090108807

I ask you to question whether we meet that responsibility with section 6036 of the Deficit Reduction Act that requires citizenship documentation for individuals seeking Medicaid. In order for our country to have healthy children. a healthy workforce and healthy communities. we must not deter Americans from seeking medical care. and yet this provision would do just that. Much of the public scrutiny on Medicaid spending has focused on the costs of providing care to undocumented immigrant populations. Some believe that requirements for documentation of citizenship will curtail alleged abuse of the Medicaid program by illegal immigrants. Yet. a study conducted by the HHS Inspector General failed to find any substantial evidence that illegal immigrants are fraudulently getting Medicaid coverage by claiming they are citizens. and he did not recommend any new requirements for documentation of citizenship. If the requirement to document citizenship will not affect illegal immigrants. who are in fact not using the Medicaid program. than we must ask ourselves who will be affected by this requirement? Lets think about the senior with Alzheimers disease and the difficulty she experiences in remembering the name of her daughter. let alone where she placed her birth certificate. Let us think about the families who survived Hurricane Katrina. who lost their homes with all their possessions. including their passports.