Summary

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) included a provision that requires states to obtain documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship or nationality when determining eligibility of Medicaid applicants and current beneficiaries; self-attestation of citizenship and nationality is no longer acceptable. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued regulations states must follow in obtaining this documentation. Interested parties have raised concerns that efforts to comply with the requirement will cause eligible citizens to lose access to Medicaid coverage and will be costly for states to implement. GAO was asked to examine how the requirement has affected individuals' access to Medicaid benefits and assess the administrative and fiscal effects of implementing the requirement. To do this work, GAO surveyed state Medicaid offices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia about their perspectives on access issues and the administrative and fiscal effects of the requirement. GAO obtained complete responses from 44 states representing 71 percent of national Medicaid enrollment in fiscal year 2004. GAO also reviewed federal laws, regulations, and CMS guidance.

States reported that the citizenship documentation requirement resulted in barriers to access to Medicaid for some eligible citizens. Twenty-two of the 44 states reported declines in Medicaid enrollment due to the requirement, and a majority of these states attributed the declines to delays in or losses of Medicaid coverage for individuals who appeared to be eligible citizens. Of the remaining states, 12 reported that the requirement had no effect and 10 reported they did not know the requirement's effect on enrollment. Not all of the 22 states reporting declines could quantify enrollment declines due specifically to the requirement, but a state that had begun tracking the effect identified 18,000 individuals in the 7 months after implementation whose applications were denied or coverage was terminated for inability to provide the necessary documentation, though the state believed most of them to be eligible citizens. Further, states reporting a decline in enrollment varied in their impressions about the requirement's effect on enrollment after the first year of implementation. States' enrollment policies and whether an individual was an applicant or a beneficiary may have influenced the requirement's effect on access to Medicaid. For example, states that relied primarily on mail-in applications before the requirement were more likely to report declines in enrollment than states where individuals usually applied in person. In addition, the requirement may have more adversely affected applicants than beneficiaries because applicants were given less time to comply in some states and were not eligible for Medicaid benefits until they documented their citizenship. Although states reported investing resources to implement the requirement, potential fiscal benefits for the federal government and states are uncertain. All 44 states reported taking administrative measures to implement the requirement and assist individuals with compliance. In addition, 10 states reported that a total of $28 million was appropriated in state fiscal year 2007, and 15 states budgeted funds for implementation costs in state fiscal year 2008. Despite these measures, states reported that the requirement has increased the level of assistance needed by individuals and amount of time spent by states during the enrollment process. States specified two aspects of the requirement as increasing the burden for them and for individuals: that documents had to be originals and the list of acceptable documents was complex and did not allow for exceptions. Further, although CMS estimated the requirement would result in savings for the federal government and states of $90 million for fiscal year 2008, states' responses indicated that this estimate may be overstated for two reasons. Specifically, CMS did not account for the increased administrative expenditures reported by states, and the agency's estimated savings from ineligible, noncitizens no longer receiving benefits may be less than anticipated. In commenting on a draft of the report, CMS raised concerns about the conclusions drawn from the survey responses as to the requirement's effect on access, mainly that states did not submit data to support their responses.