Thread: Wash state suing feds over immigrant kids' health coverage

Monday, March 5, 2007 · Last updated 3:13 p.m. PT

Wash state suing feds over immigrant kids' health coverage

By DAVID AMMONS
AP POLITICAL WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington is suing the federal government over a new rule that makes it tougher to get medical coverage for infants born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, said the policy is immoral, adds to the cost of medical care and clearly violates the infants' constitutional rights.

The state sued the Department of Health and Human Services in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Monday. The government has 60 days to respond.

The government declined comment on pending litigation, but defended the new policy.

Gregoire said the agency got advance notice last week and that her social and health services director, Robin Arnold-Williams, was in Washington, D.C., Monday to brief federal officials.

Gregoire, a former three-term Washington attorney general, said the state has a very strong case.

A new federal regulation, recently imposed on an emergency basis and soon to be permanent, requires the state to withhold Medicaid coverage of the newborns until proof of citizenship is processed and approved. A similar requirement exists for adult and child immigrants who seek medical coverage.

Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that covers low-income U.S. citizens. Washington also operates a state-financed program for children of undocumented immigrants.

Gregoire said the rule on newborns makes no sense, because everyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen and the Constitution guarantees them the same services that all other Americans are eligible for.

In the case of the 8,000 infants who are born in Washington every year to poor illegal immigrant parents, the state picks up the delivery cost and can attest that the children are, indeed, U.S.-born and thus citizens, she said.

The state pays an average of $120 a month to cover the infants.

The task of going through a maze of paperwork to determine citizenship and eligibility does nothing but discriminate against the baby and adds to health care costs if their parents are forced to use free care at a hospital emergency room, Gregoire said.

"It's a bureaucratic morass, legally wrong and, I absolutely believe from a moral perspective, it's wrong, fundamentally wrong," she told a news conference.

"How in the world can a state discriminate against United States citizens simply because of something their parent is or is not? Let's do the right thing by these children."

Gregoire said the state will ask the court to block the rule in Washington until the issue is resolved at trial. She said she isn't expecting sanctions or penalties because the state is suing.

The state objected to the new rule as it was being developed. Gregoire said the new policy has nothing to do with the broader debate over immigration. She said she and the Bush White House are on the same page with support of a "balanced immigration" plan that includes a guest worker program and a route for illegal aliens to seek citizenship.

"This is not about immigration," she said. "We're talking about babies, babies born in Washington, babies who are U.S. citizens and babies who need the routine checkups and regular care that every baby deserves. Delay in health care coverage - or no coverage at all - will ultimately cost more."

Jeff Nelligan, spokesman for the federal agency's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., said in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "The guidelines for citizenship documentation were developed with extensive input from the states, experts, and an advisory group sponsored by the National Association of State Medicaid Directors and mirror those already being used by other federal agencies.

"As well, they also reflect methods being used states such as New York, Montana, and New Hampshire. The guidance will ensure that the states have maximum help in carrying out their objectives for our Medicaid recipients with the least possible burden on beneficiaries."


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/642 ... _Kids.html

Yeah right Gregoire. If you feel so strongly about this, then pass the costs along to Washington state taxpayers instead of the federal government.......then see whether she can get re-elected. Forget it Gregoire...you've created a sanctuary in WA state, you pay for it.

Kate wrote:

Forget it Gregoire...you've created a sanctuary in WA state, you pay for it.

You are exactly right and I'm suprised she isn't passing it on to taxpayers! You should see the gas tax she passed but the voters had a chance to repeal it and didn't. Enough people didn't bother to vote. But the price of gas in WA is going to be so high, I don't think she'll survive the next election. She really lost this one--fraud. The majority of voters wanted a new election, but of course not!