Feds back off Medicaid limits for babies

OLYMPIA – The federal government has backed off a new rule that would have made it tougher to get medical coverage for infants born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, announced two weeks ago that Washington state sued the federal Department of Health and Human Services in U.S. District Court in Tacoma over the policy.

At the time, Gregoire called the rule immoral and said it violated the infants’ constitutional rights.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., said all babies born in the country whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid would remain eligible for Medicaid services for a year.

People who are not citizens are not ordinarily eligible for Medicaid.

But under certain emergencies, such as the delivery of a child, they are eligible for certain services.

Before the clarification, the new regulation would have required the state to withhold Medicaid coverage of the newborns until proof of citizenship was processed and approved.

“We have heard the concerns raised and are taking action to ensure that newborns in similar circumstances are treated the same under Medicaid eligibility rules,” Leslie V. Norwalk, acting administrator of the agency, said in the news release.

“We intend to modify the documentation requirements to put all babies born in the United States whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid on an equal footing.”

Gregoire said the new regulation would have been discriminatory.

“The Constitution could not be more clear: Babies born in the U.S. are citizens, regardless of who their parents are,” she said in a statement issued Tuesday.

“As citizens, these babies are legally entitled to be treated the same as any other newborn U.S. citizen – it is a basic issue of equality.”

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.

About 8,000 infants are born in Washington every year to poor illegal immigrants.