By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – About 86-hundred Alabamians who receive Medicaid to pay for health care services will lose their coverage on Sunday because they didn't provide proof of their U-S- citizenship and identity.
This is the first wave of patients affected by a federal law that took effect in July requiring citizenship proof to keep illegal immigrants from using the program.
The soon-to-be-dropped patients received letters last week warning of the move and have 60 days to submit the required documentation to be reinstated.
They will have to reapply for Medicaid to get coverage if they don't submit the information.
Foster children and Medicaid patients who also are on Medicare or are disabled have been exempted from the requirement, but the law still affects about 500,000 people in the state. About 6,200 on the list are children.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)