A
review of state applications was completed for Medicaid for children and
joint applications for Medicaid and separate state children’s health
insurance programs. The chart above provides information on how these
applications request information regarding primary language, race and
ethnicity of the applicant or household members. Following are some
notable observations:
Linguistic access
Texas and Rhode Island have bilingual
applications (English/Spanish). For Texas, the Spanish translation is
written in italics. In Rhode Island, the Spanish translation is written
in purple.
Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and
Tennessee indicate in Spanish that help is available if the applicant
needs assistance. A statement in Arabic is also included on the Michigan
application. Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin applications
indicate that interpretation services are available. Idaho emphasizes
that interpretation services will be provided at no cost to the family.
Applications for Massachusetts,
California, and Minnesota provide information in multiple languages. The
following statement appears on the Minnesota application, "If you
don’t understand this application, have someone read it to you. This
statement is translated in seven languages. The California application
states, "For help in your language please call........" This
is translated in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Armenian,
Cantonese, Korean, Russian, and Farsi. The Massachusetts application
provides check-off boxes for the following three statements: "My
primary language is________."; "I need interpreter
services."; "I request the Masshealth booklet in my
language." These statements are translated in Spanish, Cambodian,
Chinese, Haitian Creole, Laotian, Portugese, Russian, and Vietnamese.
At the end of the Florida application,
there is a question as to whether the subsequent materials — such as
notices — should be provided in Spanish. The Wisconsin application
also has an item that asks whether written information should be
provided in Spanish or English.
Race and Ethnicity
There are two main methods
for obtaining this information. Some applications ask the applicant to
indicate race and/or ethnicity by selecting his or her classification
from a checklist or list of codes. Other applications ask the person to
"fill-in" his or her classification. The asterisks on the
chart indicate applications that clearly state that providing race
and/or ethnicity information is optional. Two states, Oklahoma and
Montana, also ask for tribal affiliation.
Some state applications
explain the rationale for asking for race and/or ethnicity. Applications
for Idaho, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon and Wisconsin
explain that this information is requested in compliance with the Civil
Rights Act. Montana (Medicaid), Nevada (Medicaid) and North
Dakota (Medicaid) further state that if the question is not answered, the
eligibility worker will complete this information based on observation.
(In North Dakota and — in some cases — Nevada a face-to-face
interview is not required for Medicaid applicants.) The Tennessee
application states that the information is requested "to make sure
that no one is treated unfairly due to race." |
