Stricter Rules Regarding Medicaid Application Leaves Many U.S. Citizens Without Healthcare

Declining rates of Medicaid enrollment in several states can be attributed to stricter guidelines imposed to make it harder for people living here illegally to get healthcare assistance. But in reality the new regulations set up by the government has meant that many who should be receiving this aid are being turned down, denied for not having adequate paperwork to get approved.

Medicaid is a government funded medical program for those who cannot afford health insurance. Generally those who apply and are accepted for Medicaid have included small children and elderly or adults with disabilities. The program expands each year as more money is allocated for services and more and more people fall below the poverty level and are eligible for this type of assistance. However, since stricter rules went in to place, this has not been the case.

Since the new 2006 Deficit Reduction Act, tens of thousands of United States citizens have been denied Medicaid because they lack proper documentation. This includes official birth certificates or passports and drivers licenses which many are unable to get.

What has happened is that Medicaid has dropped in many states and it is because citizens are being denied coverage, not because a huge amount of illegal immigrants have been turned away from health care assistance. The federal law just doesn't seem to be doing what it was intended to. Instead small children who need heart surgery or elderly who cannot afford medical care are being left to deal with the situation on their own. Without medical care when necessary, it ends up costing patients, hospitals even more.