HHS Issues Public Benefits List & INS Proposes Rule on Verifying Public Benefits Eligibility

IMMIGRANTS & PUBLIC BENEFITS

Verification and Reporting

HHS issues public benefits list & INS proposes rule on verifying public benefits eligibility
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 12, No. 5, August 7, 1998

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a notice delineating which benefits governed by the agency are "federal public benefits," while the Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued a proposed rule that governs the procedures for verifying citizens’ and immigrants’ eligibility for federal public benefits. The HHS rule limits immigrants’ access to the programs it lists—i.e., it limits the access of immigrants who do not fall within one of the "qualified" categories. The notice determines which HHS programs will be required to verify the citizenship or immigration status of applicants for program services.

The HHS programs listed in the notice are the following: Adoption Assistance; Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD), State Developmental Disabilities Councils (direct services only); ADD, Special Projects (direct services only); ADD, University Affiliated Programs (clinical disability assessment services only); Adult Programs/Payments to Territories; Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Dissertation Grants; Child Care and Development Fund; Clinical Training Grant for Faculty Development in Alcohol & Drug Abuse; Foster Care; Health Profession Education and Training Assistance; Independent Living Program; Job Opportunities for Low Income Individuals (JOLI); Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); Medicare; Medicaid (except assistance for an emergency medical condition); Mental Health Clinical Training Grants; Native Hawaiian Loan Program; Refugee Cash Assistance; Refugee Medical Assistance; Refugee Medical Assistance; Refugee Preventative Health Services Program; Refugee Social Services Formula Program; Refugee Social Services Discretionary Program; Refugee Targeted Assistance Discretionary Program; Refugee Unaccompanied Minors Program; Refugee Voluntary Agency Matching Grant program; Repatriation Program; Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option (REACH); Social Services Block Grant (SSBG); State Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

The notice indicates that some of the assistance provided under these programs may be exempt from the restrictions on immigrants’ eligibility for most public benefits. For example, public health assistance for immunizations and treatment for symptoms of communicable diseases, as well as services specified by the attorney general as necessary to protect life or safety, remain exempt. Similarly, some services under these programs that are not provided to an "individual, household, or family eligibility unit" do not constitute federal public benefits as defined by the 1996 welfare law. Nonprofit charitable organizations do not need to verify immigrants’ eligibility, even if they provide services or benefits funded by the HHS programs listed above. Although the notice is effective immediately, the HHS will accept comments until Oct. 5, 1998.

In a related development, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued proposed regulations that govern the procedures for verifying citizens’ and immigrants’ eligibility for federal public benefits. Comments to this proposed rule also are due on or before Oct. 5, 1998.

The proposed regulations and the HHS’s notice were released just before this article went to press. More information on these important rules will appear in upcoming issues of Immigrants’ Rights Update.

[63 Fed. Reg. 41,657 (Aug. 4, 1998), and 63 Fed. Reg. 41,662 (Aug. 4, 1998).]