Nearly 60% of eligible children whose parents applied for Medicaid in Virginia went without health care for weeks or months because of a new federal rule intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving coverage. While waiting for Medicaid, nearly half of the children younger than 2 who needed immunizations were unable to get them and 25% did not obtain medical care for an illness.

The reduced care is a consequence of the Deficit Reduction Act, a 2006 law that requires people who say they are citizens to provide proof such as a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and driver’s license. The federal law requires that the applications be processed within 45 days, but hundreds of children born in the U.S. waited weeks or months longer, primarily because their parents had trouble providing identity documents.

Another issue Virginia faces is a continued decline in the numbers of children in its Medicaid program since the rules went into effect, probably leaving them without health care. Between last summer and April 1, there has been a net decrease of 11,108 children enrolled in Virginia’s Medicaid program. That follows years of an average net increase of more than 1,000 children per month, including the 12 months immediately before the rule changes. In Virginia, 376,000 children are covered by the program.

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