Medicaid and citizenship proof

First off, I love your blog. That said I have to disagree with what you said about few illegal Aliens using Medicaid. Go to your local county hospital or Human Services Dept and almost every person there is pregnant and on medicaid and illegal. I was at Parkland Hospital not too long ago and diagnosed with Uterine Cancer. I went to the Medicaid office there and they told me they only gave it to women who were pregnant. All the people in there save maybe 1 or 2 were illegals that couldnt speak a lick of english and had 3-5 children at her feet. I, being born and raised in the US could not get Medicaid for cancer treatment, but because they were pregnant they could. Sorry about the rant, still adore the blog

This is another great example in the absurdities of life.

Let us not make (or ENFORCE!) rules/laws that will correct the real problem, but instead create rules/laws that exclude and punish those who diligently follow the current laws.

I understand the government’s rational – most of us would rather have our taxes help somebody like Tara than an illegal immigrants.
But I am concerned that denying these people medical care for something like TB would put all our health in danger. So I think, at least exceptions should be made for communicable deseases – like some fund or something.

Oops. Mea Culpa. I misread the linked article, which says “fewer than four million legal immigrants also participated…” and I apologize for the error.

That said there’s no evaluation that one person who is a non-citizen is on medicaid, because they haven’t bothered to check. It’s a system that begs to be abused, and given my experience it is being abused.

To be tax supported for your medical care, proof of citizenship isn’t that onerous.

Here in New Jersey, I had to provide 4 different documents to prove my identity when renewing my driver’s license. I could show items like current license, passport, soc. Sec. card, bank statement, utility bill, property tax bill, etc. Interestingly, a public assistance card counts as proof of identity. Suffice it to say, it takes a lot longer to renew your license with all these requirements, though I know it’s being done to root out illegal aliens, for security purposes. I suspect that the new Medicaid citizenship rules are being done partly for the same security reasons.

One issue that has come up here in New Jersey is how well-trained the clerks at the Motor Vehicle commission are at spotting fake documents. I mean, the woman who checked mine wasn’t exactly an FBI agent; she was a government clerk. So, how well will Medicaid employees be at spotting fake birth certificates or fake passports?

So, db……..you get a lot of illegal aliens at the Birmingham VA?

I wonder if anyone has experienced trying to qualify for health care in a European country. Not just a one time only encounter, but to be a participant. I bet they require all kinds of documentation of residency. Why is it so unreasonable to ask the same of foreign nationals here? And I agree with some of the other posters that obtaining birth certificate information is not that difficult. Please stop playing the race card. It’s really been overused.

So, not a lot of non-citizens get medicaid, huh? Spent any time in a social security office or welfare office lately? I have.
I worked for DSHS (Washington State’s welfare system) for 11 1/2 years. I did non-grant medical, including SSI. Here’s how it works: people from Russia, Bosnia, and other European countries contact World Relief. World Relief helps them get into the US. Before these people have even stepped foot in this country, World Relief has scheduled appointments for them at the social security office and also at the welfare office in the area where they plan to locate them.

When these people come into the office, a World Relief worker comes with them and we pay them $25.00 to “interpret” for us. We ask the usual questions: “do you have any stocks, bonds, real estate, bank accounts, personal property” etc. etc. to which the World Relief worker says “no.” Notice that they don’t even bother asking the applicant. You then ask
“why did you come into this country?” (This part makes steam come out of my ears). The World Relief worker says “he (or she) came here to retire.” RETIRE!!!! No, I’m not lying. They are also, by the way, extremely rude, glaring at you during the entire interview with this “I’m so much better than you” look on their face, like you are something they have to scrape off of their feet. Did I mention that these people completely PISS ME OFF?

Guess what happens next? We give the loser from another country who came here soley to sponge off of us a $600.00 check (or more), every month. They also get low-income housing, free medical (no co-pays), and free food stamps.
Isn’t that nice of us?

This scenario plays out hundreds (if not thousands) of times every day in this country and every month we hand out free money, medical and foodstamps to people who never lived here a day in their life other than when they came here to have us support them during their “retirements.”

Still wondering why we are running out of money? I’m not. I’m 44, so I’m guessing that my social security fund, which I’ve been paying into for the last 28 years, has been given to a Russian or a Serb, or a Croatian, or . . . . . . and I won’t be seeing it.

Thinking that illegals are NOT taking a huge amount of money from the system is just plain dumb.
Regaridng your comment about it being difficult for US citizens to get ID, that’s a CROCK of you-know-what. In the entire time I worked at DSHS, there were a grand total of ZERO times we couldn’t come up with ID for someone to get them qualified for these programs. These people have relatives, hospitals keep birth certificates, states keep records of births, deaths, etc., so there is always a way.