Medicaid citizenship lawsuit dropped

WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Plaintiffs have voluntarily dropped a suit challenging a U.S. law requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to prove their citizenship.

That does not mean, however, that the requirement is not harmful, said John Bouman, an attorney for the plaintiffs and president of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

"The unnecessary and burdensome citizenship documentation rules are still threatening the health care of tens of thousands of Americans that no one doubts are U.S. citizens," Bouman said.

The requirement, included in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, originally required all Medicaid applicants and recipients to produce one of a limited list of acceptable documents showing they are a U.S. citizen.

The law's supporters said it will shore up lax procedures that allow people in the country illegally to participate in Medicaid.

Advocates for beneficiaries cautioned that the requirement would wrongly exclude citizens who could not produce documents, and place a large administrative burden on states.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and several other governors have said that, since the implementation, there has been a sharp drop-off in the number of children in Medicaid, adding that most of the excluded children are probably U.S. citizens.

In response to those concerns, the law was re-interpreted to exclude Medicare beneficiaries and foster children.

Because those two main groups were excluded, the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit opted to voluntarily dismiss their case.

More work, however, needs to be done at the state level -- including more possible lawsuits -- to reduce the harmful impact of the law, Bouman said.