By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, March 8
It”s federal law. Low-income children and pregnant women cannot get on
or stay on
Medicaid unless they prove they”re U.S. citizens.
But if they or their parents are working, there”s a good chance they”re eligible for the State Children”s Health Insurance Program, better known as SCHIP.
SCHIP is not subject to the proof-of-citizenship requirement.
Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, says that”s not good policy. He”s introduced House Bill 2367, which would extend the proof-of-citizenship requirement to SCHIP.
SCHIP and Medicaid underwrite
HealthWave
, the state”s health insurance program for families below 200 percent of the
federal poverty guideline
$40,000 per year for a four-person household.
Most HealthWave enrollees are expected to pay monthly premiums of between $10 to $20. Those on Medicaid do not.
At a committee hearing Thursday, Kinzer, a conservative Republican, said the bill is needed to keep illegal aliens from gaining access to taxpayer-funded programs.
Most of the hearing focused on keeping illegal aliens from enrolling in state universities.
Afterward, Kinzer said the bill”s requirements also would apply to SCHIP and to MediKan, the state-funded program for disabled adults
many of whom are mentally ill
awaiting approval for federal disability payments.
Since last November,
Kansas Health Policy Authority
officials have been calling lawmakers” attention to how the citizenship and identity requirements have caused months-long delays in the processing of Medicaid and SCHIP applications.
Prior to the federal law taking effect July 1, all applications were processed in three to four weeks. Now, the processing takes two to three months.
According to the health policy authority, between 18,000 and 20,000 children and pregnant women have been not been able to get on Medicaid
not because they aren”t U.S. citizens but because they don”t have ready access to their birth certificates.
Denying these children and pregnant women access to Medicaid adds to the number of uninsured who rely on emergency rooms, a trend that increases the state”s health care costs, according to the health policy authority.
The health policy authority
opposes Kinzer”s bill.
Kinzer said the bill addressed the health policy authority”s concerns by letting people be on SCHIP and MediKan for 90 days “without verification, and if they can show that they”ve requested a copy of their birth certificate from another state, they can be on indefinitely.”
According to the health policy authority, most of the delays in processing Medicaid applications are due to parents whose children were born out of state having to order
and wait for
copies of birth certificates.
The Kansas Catholic Conference testified against the bill.
“As I read this bill, I”m lead to believe we currently have many people who are not U.S. citizens receiving benefits,” said Sister Therese Bangert, a lobbyist for the conference. “This is simply not true. Receiving benefits is an intense experience of many papers ? the application for General Assistance is 18 pages long.”
Bangert said few immigrants
legal or illegal
apply for Medicaid, SCHIP or food stamps.
Those in the country legally, she said, don”t want to do anything to jeopardize their chances for citizenship. Those here illegally don”t want to call attention to themselves.
Kimberly Corum, an immigration attorney from Manhattan, warned the committee that many soldiers” wives at Fort Riley would be affected by the bill.
“Their husbands are in Iraq, they”re not here to defend them (against the bill),” she said.
Paul Degener, representing the Topeka-based Citizens for Immigration Reform, endorsed the bill.
“We”re opposed to spending any money on anybody who does not respect this county,” he said. “The best thing they can do is leave.”
Kris Kobach, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who ran against U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat, in 2004, testified in support of the bill.
Committee chairman Arlen Siegfried, R-Olathe, declined comment on the bill”s chances for passing the House. “I can”t predict that,” he said.
Siegfried said deliberations on the bill would be March 16 or March 19.
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.