Jay Rockefeller: “A closer look at the language in PRWORA and the Social Security Act confirms that the immigration reform bill does not…”

“A closer look at the language in PRWORA and the Social Security Act confirms that the immigration reform bill does not eliminate the States' right to use the ICHIA option to provide coverage to lawfully residing children and pregnant women. The States' option to extend coverage to these individuals is not ``implemented'' in section 403 of PRWORA, the provision of law impacted by the immigration bill, but instead exists independent of PRWORA under sections 1903 and 2107 of the Social Security Act. I would also like to point out to our colleagues that the Congressional Budget Office--CBO--had a similar interpretation of the language in S. 744. CBO made an assumption that, under this language, Federal agencies would permit some individuals with RPI, Blue Card, or V-visa status to receive benefits from Federal means-tested programs, and specifically incorporated into its estimate of the bill the costs of providing Medicaid and CHIP coverage under ICHIA to children and pregnant women.”