March 19, 2008
The Facts
In July 2006 a Congressional rule was passed to be enforced by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The rule requires everyone who receives any benefits from these services to supply specified documents such as passport, birth certificate, driver’s license, or military records. States will be fined if they do not comply with this rule. However, there had been no evidence that such a rule was needed, or that any undocumented immigrants were falsely claiming US citizenship to get Medicaid.
My View
The rule was not requested by CMS or the President, but the Republican congress adopted the rule anyway in 2005. Donna Cohen Ross, an analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington said “This rule was the answer to a problem that really doesn’t exist”. The year the rule was passed, Mark McClellan, administrator for CMS, said that a report by their inspector general did not find any particular problems regarding false allegations of citizenship, nor were they aware of any. Most states agreed with this assessment. So what are the results?
According to Andrew Allison, Kansas Medicaid Directory, they added $1 million to their 2007 budget to handle the cost of this new rule when they had absolutely no indication there was a problem. And a close analysis of six states showed that for every $100 spent to implement the rule, only 14 cents were saved.
Ok, what’s the old saying; “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”? Anyone ever hear of the $600 toilet seat or the $350 hammer? If this is the Republicans way of saying they are saving the American taxpayers money from being spent on illegal immigrants, they need to come up with a better idea.
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