Effective Aug. 1, any American receiving or applying for MaineCare benefits will have to prove United States citizenship and identity. The new law is part of federal legislation enacted in 2005 and affecting Medicaid recipients in all states.

Until now, most Medicaid enrollees could simply declare citizenship without having to document it.

By matching MaineCare enrollee lists with birth, Social Security and driver’s license records, state employees already have succeeded in verifying U.S. citizenship and identity for about 111,000 individuals enrolled in MaineCare, according to Tom Keyes of the Department of Health and Human Services.

But with about 256,000 Mainers receiving benefits, he said Monday, there are still many who need to round up documentation and bring it to their annual review meetings. The department will send letters to MaineCare members about three months before their meetings to give them time to find the papers they need.

“Our hope is that by the time they do their review, they’ll either have the documents in hand or else have begun the process of obtaining them,” Keyes said.

He said passports and naturalization papers satisfy both the citizenship and the identity requirements. For people lacking those documents, there are several alternatives.

Birth certificates, military identifications and official hospital, health care or insurance records that show the place of birth will verify citizenship, Keyes said. In addition, personal identification is needed in the form of a photo driver’s license or an official state, school or military ID card. For children under 15, school or day care records may be used.

In the absence of these documents, Keyes said, the state will accept legal affidavits from two adults, only one of whom may be a relative.

Keyes acknowledged that the cost of obtaining a birth certificate can run to $30 – prohibitively expensive for many individuals and families. For people born in Maine, he noted, public birth records are available at no charge. For those who must seek birth records from other states, the state has limited funds available to help defray the cost.

Legal immigrants who want to apply for MaineCare or continue receiving benefits must provide documentation from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, as has always been the case, Keyes said.

Anyone needing help or having questions about the new MaineCare requirement is encouraged to call the state’s Citizenship and Identity Hotline at 800-701-1887.