We’ll take it.
Around 1,000 pregnant women who are illegal immigrants will nolonger receive prenatal services through the federal-state Medicaidprogram, beginning in early spring, according to NebraskaDepartment of Health and Human Services leaders.
The prenatal care issue creates a conflict between two stategoals:
- On the immigration front, senators have wanted to make certainthat illegal immigrants do not get any public benefits, passingstrong anti-immigration legislation (LB403) last year.
- Because of the strong pro-life sentiment, Nebraska also hasprovided Medicaid coverage for all pregnant women, regardless oftheir immigration status. The assumption is that the prenatalcoverage also is for the benefit of the unborn child, who will be aU.S. citizen once born.
However, federal officials have told state leaders that federallaw prohibits Medicaid coverage for people who are not documentedexcept for emergency care. That means no prenatal care for pregnantmoms.
Unlike Nebraska, which provides coverage for the unborn, thefederal government has no similar concept.
“Unborn child is not an accepted Medicaid eligibility group,” saidVivianne Chaumont, director of the Division of Medicaid andLong-Term Care, in a letter to state senators.
“The only Medicaid coverage that is available for an undocumentedalien pregnant woman is the cost of delivery and the cost oftreating complications of pregnancy considered to be emergencies,”she wrote.
The federal government pays for about 60 percent of the costs ofthe Medicaid coverage and state taxes pay the rest.
If senators want to provide prenatal care for pregnant mothers whoare illegal residents, the Legislature will have to create aseparate non-Medicaid program in state statute, according to theletter from Chaumont.
The state is reviewing the 6,000 pregnant women receivingMedicaid-funded prenatal care, according to Kerry Winterer, CEO ofthe Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. All women whoare not legally in the country will lose their benefits, likely onMarch 1, he said.
The state estimates that somewhere around 1,000 women now receivingprenatal care are undocumented and will lose Medicaid prenatalcoverage. That coverage costs around $850 to $950 per woman,according to Chaumont.
Winterer said the letter was intended to bring the issue to theattention of senators, letting them know there must be alegislative solution if they want to continue the program.
Several senators said they had only recently received the letterand had not had time to consider a solution. “It is still just toonew and everyone has had too much going on to sit down and talkabout this issue,” said Sen. Tim Gay, chairman of the Legislature’sHealth and Human Services Committee.
“It caught everyone off guard,” he said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 ornhicks@journalstar.com.