RALEIGH (AP) – A program intended to prevent illegal immigrants from fraudulently applying for Medicaid has been delayed in North Carolina, possi*bly until late September, two months af*ter its scheduled start date, officials said.
  Until then, people applying for the federal health insurance will not be re*quired to prove citizenship with docu*mentation. They will only be asked if they are U.S. citizens, as the old policy required, said Mark Benton, senior deputy director for the state Division of Medical Assistance. Questionable appli*cations will be examined further.
  “Our intent is not to lose recipients, but to keep the folks that should be on (Medicaid),” he said.
  The changes, part of a federal law ap*proved in February to curb fraud, re*quire new and renewing Medicaid ap*plicants to prove their citizenship sta*tus through birth certificates, passports or other approved documents.
  In some cases, two written affidavits affirming a person’s citizenship status would be accepted.
  The changes will save Medicaid about $ 735 million by 2015, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Critics say the program could hurt le*gitimate applicants and will do little to curb fraud. The program was sched*uled to begin nationwide July 1. Ben*ton blamed the delay in North Carolina on the federal agency responsible for Medicaid, which left states just three weeks to put changes in place after
 In Guilford County, Medicaid manager Bill Horne says his office is trying to determine the added costs of verifying citizenship, such as proving birth certificates are authentic.
 spending four months compiling in*str uctions.
  “They are using the argument that states have known about this, and that their policy only restates the law,” Ben*ton said. “If that’s the case, it wouldn’t have taken them four months.” Benton said the changes will be im*plemented before the end of September.
  Medicaid is a federal program that provides health insurance to low-in*come families and individuals.
  States help manage the program.
  Critics of the changes say states will have to absorb additional costs and that legitimate Medicaid recipients could get cut from the program.
  Up to five million Medicaid recipi*ents are at risk of losing coverage na*tionally, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Wash*ington- based think tank.
  Center health analyst Leighton Ku said up to 10 percent of North Carolina’s 1.5 million recipients don’t have a birth certificate or passport, the main forms of necessary documentation under the new rules.
  Hospitals also are concerned the changes will result in more uninsured patients whose bills aren’t paid by Med*icaid.
  “If you’re not eligible, (we) don’t get reimbursed,” said Moses Cone Health System spokesman Doug Allred.
  In Guilford County, Medicaid manag*er Bill Horne says his office is trying to determine the added costs of verifying citizenship, such as proving birth cer*tificates are authentic. About 55,000 people receive benefits in the county, he said.
  Problems tracking down proper doc*umentation also could be difficult for homeless people and residents of nurs*ing homes without living relatives, crit*ics say.
 
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