Washington – Several health groups are concerned that babies born to illegal immigrants could be denied essential medical care such as immunizations and physicals because of recent changes to Medicaid.
The babies automatically are U.S. citizens because they were born in U.S. hospitals.
Under past policy, the groups said, the government required states to provide the babies with a full year of eligibility for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor.
Now, mothers of the newborns will have to apply for Medicaid on behalf of their newborns, which many will not want to risk, say groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the March of Dimes.
Medicaid officials are skeptical about the groups’ claims.
Leslie Norwalk, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Thursday that her agency investigated and found no case where a baby was denied care under Medicaid.
“If people know of an instance where a state has denied eligibility because someone couldn’t produce evidence of citizenship in particular among the most vulnerable, we would be interested in knowing about that,” she said.
New federal rules say a child born in the U.S. to “an illegal alien mother is not a deemed newborn” and therefore not automatically eligible for Medicaid. States may make exceptions on the basis of income.
The rules were in response to a new law designed to ensure only citizens or qualified legal immigrants get access to Medicaid.
The medical groups said denying newborns access to Medicaid and preventive care would cost the health care system more in the long run.
