New Federal Medicaid ID Law Might Cause Problems For Orthodox Jews

Health officials in many states warn that a federal law requiring Medicaid recipients to prove citizenship starting July 1 could lead to long lines, dropped coverage and general confusion for the program's participants.

At least 46 million people on Medicaid for the first time will need to produce documents showing they were born in the United States or are here legally, and this might also hurt American citizens.

Four states - Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire and New York - already require Medicaid applicants to prove their citizenship with documents. The rest rely on sworn statements from Medicaid enrollees. But after this month, that won't be enough. Recipients in all states will have to show a complete birth certificate, passport or other citizenship documents to receive health coverage.

And that creates problems for Americans without birth certificates or those who have uncompleted ones. And there are many reasons people may not have complete birth certificates. For example, Orthodox Jewish boys often leave the hospital without a first name, because they don't receive their given name until circumcision. That means their birth certificates read “Baby Boy” and the child’s last name.