Punish the poor, the elderly, and the incapacitated - business as usual

the new law requiring people to produce proof of citizenship to be eligible for medicaid takes effect today... it's just another example of the punish-the-poor, the vulnerable, and the elderly, socially-darwinian, drown-the-government-in-grover-norquist's- bathtub attempts to nullify any explicit or implied social contract... (also, note the way the article insures that, instead of using the generic term "people," the vast pool of potential medicaid recipients are instead gingerly referred to as "americans...")

[T]he biggest risk is that, rather than preventing fraud, the provision will result in the denial of benefits to eligible Americans who can't come up with the required proof. After all, the typical Medicaid recipient doesn't have a passport, the preferred form of proof. Also, many elderly African Americans were born at home and were never issued birth certificates.

Under the administration's guidance for state Medicaid agencies, states can't extend coverage to new applicants while they scramble to obtain documentation. Impoverished senior citizens and people with disabilities who already receive Supplemental Security Income benefits -- and have therefore already had their citizenship verified by the Social Security Administration -- aren't automatically eligible. There aren't any exceptions for those who need immediate care; who are too incapacitated to produce documents (Alzheimer's patients, for example); or who are victims of natural disasters.

besides being mean-spirited, it's just plain unneccesary...

[T]here's scant evidence of widespread fraud under the current system. In all but four states, Medicaid applicants attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are citizens, and officials can ask for documentation if there is reason for suspicion. As Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in response to an inspector general's examination of the issue last year, "The report does not find particular problems regarding false allegations of citizenship, nor are we aware of any."

did i mention mean-spirited...?

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