I lived for 18 years in New orleans. I lost my home in the city I loved when Katrina hit. When I moved to Atlanta I was absolutely shocked at how many illegal live in ATL. There are parts where you'd think it's Mexico Norte. I didn't know until recently how many live here. Fortunately everybody tells me Gov. Sonny Perdue has been doing something about it. I read this in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Medicaid rolls decline as new state rules begin

By ANDY MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/30/06

Georgia's Medicaid program lost almost 70,000 in membership in the first four months of 2006, after Georgia launched new rules to control fraud.

Beginning Jan. 1, the state began demanding proof of income and citizenship for people to join or stay on Medicaid. Through April, the government insurance program for about 1.3 million of Georgia's poor and disabled had an enrollment decline of 69,635.

State Medicaid officials said the membership changes throughout the year as people are added and dropped from the rolls. They say the actual number of patients leaving Medicaid during the first four months of the year could be much higher than 69,635.

The officials say they don't know how many dropped out because of the state's tighter checks on income and citizenship, but said the new rules were a key factor in the decrease.

At an August hearing on illegal immigration, held by a U.S. House committee, Abel Ortiz, health policy adviser for Gov. Sonny Perdue, said the decline in Medicaid membership showed ''strong evidence of fraud and abuse.''

"Illegal immigrants are getting onto our social system, and it is busting the bank now," Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) said at the hearing. Norwood earlier took his anti-fraud fight national, helping push Congress to pass a law requiring proof of citizenship in all states' Medicaid programs.

Consumer advocates say the new requirements won't snag much fraud, but instead will prevent U.S.-born citizens from getting benefits.

"It's especially sad that many of those losing health coverage are children,'' said consumer health advocate Linda Lowe. The state's policy changes create a paperwork burden for people trying to keep Medicaid, she said. And even a small increase in family income can knock people off Medicaid and into the ranks of the uninsured, Lowe added.

"The state has no basis for saying the decline is a result of fraud,'' she said.

The Medicaid changes come as the illegal immigration issue sizzles across the state and nation. Georgia has the nation's fastest-growing illegal population, estimated at 470,000 by the Department of Homeland Security.

Perdue's stricter rules on Medicaid ''make good sense,'' said John Vinson of Americans for Immigration Control, a national organization that lobbies for enforcement of immigration laws. "It's improper for people illegally in the country to get these benefits, which properly should go to American citizens.''

Many children affected

Medicaid from January through April had a child membership drop of about 50,000, though many may have transferred to new coverage, including PeachCare for Kids, state Medicaid officials said. PeachCare added only about 4,000 during the same period.

The four-month Medicaid figures are the latest the state agency released, but the decline has probably continued through the summer, officials said.

The drop also reflects new restrictions in other Medicaid coverage programs, including those for disabled children and for emergency care to illegal immigrants. During the same period in the previous two years, Medicaid enrollment rose by 1 percent and less than 1 percent, respectively.
[Mod Edit to add link]
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...Hmedicaid.html
The article goes on to sob a bit. Y'all know how newspapers are: opposed to anything which makes common sense.