CMS Interim Final Rule on Medicaid Eligibility

Statement

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance, issued the comment below about action today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to correct a problem that resulted from the agency's implementation of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

The interim rule issued by CMS made it more difficult for children born to undocumented mothers to gain Medicaid eligibility.

Sen. Grassley's comment:

"Current law says that a child born in the United States is a citizen, and the Deficit Reduction Act didn't change that law. So it's appropriate that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has reinstituted its policy of deeming the child of a mother eligible for emergency Medicaid onto Medicaid.

This is a positive step, and I look forward to watching CMS smoothly implement this rule."

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