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2007 Session

Budget Amendments - HB1650 (Committee Approved)

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Develop Systems to Verify Citizenship (language only)

Item 278 #2h

Item 278 #2h

Health And Human Resources
Health and Human Resources, Secretary of

Language
Page 286, after line 15, insert:
"D.  The Secretary of Health and Human Resources shall work with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, and
the Departments of Medical Assistance Services, Health, Social Services and Motor Vehicles, to develop systems to streamline the verification of citizenship and the identity of applicants for medical assistance services and to enable caseworkers to access necessary information for eligibility purposes."


Explanation
(This amendment requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to work with appropriate state agencies to develop systems to streamline the verification of citizenship for applicants for the state's Medicaid program and to enable caseworkers to access necessary information for eligibility purposes. New federal law requires most Medicaid applicants and recipients to provide documentation of their U.S. citizenship and their identity. The federal regulations that implement the new law have resulted in delays in application processing, lower enrollment and large backlogs in applications. While Virginia agencies have worked to streamline procedures to ease the verification of documentation, the procedures remain cumbersome requiring considerable extra paper transactions. Further, the new requirements have revealed gaps in the ability of Virginia agencies to use technology to share information.)