Lawsuit Targets Medicaid Citizenship Requirement

WASHINGTON —  A law that requires Medicaid beneficiaries to prove their citizenship before obtaining health benefits is unconstitutional and should not be allowed to take effect July 1, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Eddie Mae Binion, 72, of St. Louis reports that she was given away as a child and raised by a great-grandmother. She has no living relatives, and no one knows where she was born.

“I do not have the energy or the time to search anymore for evidence showing that I was born in the United States,” Binion said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Chicago. Consumer groups publicizing the lawsuit said it could cause millions of low-income citizens to become uninsured. The lawsuit asks the court to enjoin the Bush administration from implementing the law.

Congress passed legislation earlier this year designed to ensure that only citizens or qualified legal immigrants gain access to Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor. More than 50 million people get healthcare through the program.

When records such as birth certificates or passports are unavailable, states will be allowed to accept sworn affidavits from two people, one of whom cannot be a relative, administration officials say.

Each witness must attest to having personal knowledge of the events establishing the claim of citizenship. They also will be subject to prosecution if they commit perjury.

Congress passed legislation requiring the documentation after an inspector general’s report showed that most states don’t verify claims of U.S. citizenship by those seeking Medicaid. That scenario creates the potential for illegal immigrants to access the program.