Health Advocates Want Proof of Citizenship Removed from Medicaid

None by Eric Ray

(KCPW News) Local health advocates say the change made last year requiring citizenship documentation in order to receive Medicaid was unnecessary and are pushing Senator Orrin Hatch to help reverse the law.

The change was made to keep undocumented immigrants from receiving Medicaid. The Utah Health Policy Project says the requirement has kept people who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid out of the program.  The UHPP is asking Hatch to use the reauthorization of the children's health insurance policy, or CHIP, as a conduit for change of the Medicaid policy.

Hatch is working with Senator Ted Kennedy on a recommendation for the reauthorization of CHIP.

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