In February 2005, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 which was the result of the administration’s call to reduce federal spending by approximately $35 billion by 2010. Medicaid, one of the nation’s largest federally funded programs, was an obvious target. Since Medicaid was an entitlement program, across the board cuts could not be made. Therefore, in an effort to control future costs, Congress used the DRA to give states greater “flexibility” in designing benefit coverage and cost-sharing, as well as establishing strict requirements for verifying citizenship as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. Both of these provisions could have detrimental effects on children’s health care coverage in Arkansas.

To date there have been no changes in the benefits package for the children’s Medicaid program nor has there been any discussion of increasing co-payments or instituting premiums. However, new citizenship verification requirements went into effect on July 1, 2006. This brief explains the new requirements and discusses how they will create barriers to the enrollment process for children needing Medicaid.