Will enforcement of the documentation of citizenship law affect
breastfeeding help from WIC and other providers?
Judy Ritchie

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/03/MNG22M58MV1.D
TL

Under a new federal policy, children born in the United States to illegal
immigrants with low incomes will no longer be automatically entitled to
health insurance through Medicaid, Bush administration officials said
Thursday.
Doctors and hospitals said the policy change would make it more difficult
for such infants, who are U.S. citizens, to obtain health care needed in the
first year of life. 

Illegal immigrants are generally barred from Medicaid, but they can get
coverage for treatment of emergency medical conditions, including labor and
delivery. In the past, once a woman received emergency care under Medicaid
for the birth of a baby, the child was deemed eligible for coverage as well,
and states had to cover them for one year from the date of birth. 

Under the new policy, an application must be filed for the child, and the
parents must provide documents to prove the child's citizenship.
snip
California has objected to the new policy. S. Kimberly Belshe, secretary of
the California Health and Human Services Agency, said: "By virtue of being
born in the United States, a child is a U.S. citizen. What more proof does
the federal government need?" 
snip
Doctors and hospitals denounced the policy change and denied that it was
required by the new law. 

Dr. Jay Berkelhamer, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said
the policy "punishes babies who, according to the Constitution, are citizens
because they were born here." 

Dr. Martin Michaels, a pediatrician in Dalton, Ga., said that continuous
coverage in the first year of life is important because "newborns need care
right from the start." 
snip
Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., was a principal architect of the new law.
"Charlie's intent was that every person receiving Medicaid needs to provide
documentation," said John Stone, a spokesman for Norwood, who is a dentist
and has been active on health care issues. "With newborns, there should be
no problem. All you have to do is provide a birth certificate or hospital
records verifying birth."

But Berkelhamer of the pediatrics academy disagreed. Even though the
children are eligible for Medicaid, he said, illegal immigrants may be
afraid to apply because of "the threat of deportation." And the policy "will
cost the health care system more in the long run," he added, because
children of illegal immigrants may go without immunizations, preventive care
and treatments needed in the first year of life. 

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