Revised SCHIP still has loophole for illegals


December 3, 2007


By Stephen Dinan - The revised children's health insurance bill that Congress is about to send to President Bush still has loopholes that both illegal aliens and ineligible legal immigrants could exploit to join the program, a new Heritage Foundation analysis shows.

Under the bill, those applying for the State Children's Health Insurance Program would not have to prove citizenship. Instead, they only would have to provide a valid Social Security number — something most legal immigrants and many illegal aliens already have, said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, whose analysis is being released today.

"If you're illegal, you're going to have to come with a valid but bogus Social Security number. If you're a legal permanent resident, you have a Social Security number, it's just a piece of cake for you to walk in," Mr. Rector said.

He said the SCHIP bill that Congress passed would undo the 1996 welfare policy that restricted most public benefits to legal immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years. The new bill doesn't change that requirement, but only requires states to ask for a Social Security number, which Mr. Rector said means ineligible immigrants could sign up.

"You couldn't be clearer in their saying, 'We really don't care about that five-year time period,' " he said.

Illegal aliens who have stolen a valid Social Security number could also join, he said.

Democratic leaders in Congress said Friday that they will send the SCHIP bill to Mr. Bush and force him to make good on his threat to veto it.

"This legislation, of course, passed the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support, and we urge the president to sign it into law," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat. "We are sending this legislation to the president now because of concerns about a pocket veto if we wait."

If Congress sends the bill to Mr. Bush less than 10 days before adjourning for the year, the president could kill it simply by refusing to sign it — known as a pocket veto.

Conservative Republicans said the bill expands coverage past poor children to include some adults and children from middle-income families. They fear that is a step toward government-run health care for all.

Mr. Bush vetoed an earlier bill, citing concerns about the expanded coverage and illegal aliens' ability to get coverage.

The bill's backers — both Democrats and some top Republicans such as Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa — said there's nothing in the measure that would affect immigrants' access.

The new rules on Social Security numbers are designed to reverse a 2006 change to the law, which required Medicaid applicants to prove citizenship by showing a birth certificate, passport or similar document before joining.

Democrats said there was no evidence of illegal aliens' abusing the program, though. And in a Government Accountability Office report, several states said the new rules actually are keeping some eligible citizens from getting Medicaid benefits.

In October, the House failed to override Mr. Bush's first veto, 273-156, 16 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed.

The new SCHIP bill passed the House 265-142 on Oct. 25, and passed the Senate 64-30 on Nov. 1. But Democrats had delayed sending the bill to Mr. Bush, hoping to work out an agreement.


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