More Than 5,800 Oklahoma Medicaid Beneficiaries Lose Coverage Over Proof-of-Citizenship Requirements

More than 5,800 Oklahoma residents were dropped from the state's Medicaid program because they could not meet federal proof-of-citizenship requirements, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority said at a meeting on Thursday, the Tulsa World reports. The guidelines are intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from enrolling in the program. The authority does not know the immigration status of those who were dropped from Medicaid, called SoonerCare in Oklahoma. However, OHCA CEO Mike Fogarty said, "This leads us to speculate, if not conclude, that this has become a requirement that some people have had difficulty overcoming," adding, "There has not been a problem with an invalid case load."

Of the beneficiaries dropped from the program, 62% were children, 58% were white, 18% were black, 13% were American Indian, 10% were Hispanic and 1% was Asian-American. Those percentages are in line with those for the program as a whole, Fogarty said. According to OHCA, each SoonerCare beneficiary is notified at least four times of the proof-of-citizenship requirements, but many do not understand or do not have the necessary documentation. According to the World, an additional 5,500 to 6,000 Oklahomans are expected to be dropped from SoonerCare on Jan. 1, 2008.

Also at Thursday's meeting, Fogarty reported that the number of uninsured children in the state decreased by one-third over the past decade, largely because of increased enrollment in SoonerCare. About 343,000 children were enrolled in the program in November -- more than twice the number enrolled 10 years ago (Krehbiel, Tulsa World, 12/14).