CHICAGO – Low-income citizens
backed by anti-poverty groups filed a proposed class action
Wednesday, challenging a federal law requiring proof of citizenship
in exchange for benefits under the government's Medicaid health
insurance program for the poor.
Critics say the law, set to go into effect July 1, will hurt the
vulnerable who may be unable to provide original documents like
birth certificates. Those most in jeopardy are those in nursing
homes, with mental and physical disabilities, and the victims of
natural disasters, the critics contend.
The proposed class-action
lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, argues that the
law unconstitutionally violates the Fifth Amendment's due-process
guarantee by arbitrarily requiring documents and imposing deadlines.
“This law throws out a dragnet and says: 'All of you, all 50
million of you, have to come document your citizenship, whether we
think you are a problem or not,'” said John Bouman, a lawyer at the
Shriver Center on Poverty Law in Chicago, which filed the lawsuit on
behalf of nine people.
The suit names Michael Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, as defendant. Mary Kahn, a spokeswoman
for the health agency, said the allegations overstate the potential
for people to be denied coverage.
She cited a recent government analysis finding “about 35,000
people might be at risk of losing their current benefit. The
assertion that there are 50 to 55 million people at risk is grossly
overestimated,” Kahn said.
She noted the agency's flexibility, including letting states in
some circumstances accept sworn affidavits to prove citizenship.
Health and Human Services has no data suggesting the Medicaid
system is being abused by illegal immigrants, and Kahn referred
questions to the Congressmen who pushed the law.
Plaintiffs want the court to temporarily suspend the law while it
considers the suit. They also contend the law puts an onerous burden
on states, which must comply to keep federal funds.
“Medicaid coverage will be delayed or denied for many,” according
to a recent analysis by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
“Obtaining required documents may be difficult and costly for
low-income citizens,” the report found.
About 55 million people receive health care benefits under the
state-administered Medicaid program.
The consumer group Families USA called the law a political ploy
as lawmakers debate potential measures to deal with the 11 million
to 12 million illegal immigrants believed to live in the United
States.
“There is a political factor in all of this. We are in the middle
of a very contentious debate on illegal immigration,” said Ron
Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
He pointed to a recent analysis by the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, which found between 3 million and 5 million
Medicaid recipients might not be able to produce the proper
identification and could lose benefits.
One of the lawsuit's plaintiffs is 95 year-old Ruby Bell, who was
born in 1911 in Arkansas and who has no birth certificate.
Bell now lives in a nursing home in Northern Illinois, but the
county she came from did not start keeping certificates until 1914
and she might not be able prove citizenship under the law, Bouman
said.
Medicaid recipients are now required to be U.S. citizens, but
documentation is only required of those under suspicion.
