WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- After criticism and a state lawsuit, Medicaid has relaxed eligibility requirements for babies born in the United States.
Any baby born to a mother eligible for Medicaid is automatically covered for the first year of life.
However, many non-citizens ineligible for the program were given emergency coverage for labor and delivery services. Before the rule change, those babies were not automatically eligible for Medicaid coverage, though their birth in an American hospital made them U.S. citizens.
Under the new rule, any newborn whose mother has been found eligible for emergency coverage will be granted automatic coverage until they are one year old. After one year, those babies must then demonstrate continued eligibility for the Medicaid program.
"We intend to modify the documentation requirements to put all babies born in the United States whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid on an equal footing," said Leslie Norwalk, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Washington State recently filed a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that the babies were being deprived of their rights as U.S. citizens.
