Kansas will continue providing public assistance benefits to legal immigrants who arrived in the United States prior to passage of federal welfare reform legislation, Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rochelle Chronister announced today.

In addition, the Secretary said the agency will provide General Assistance (GA), a state-funded cash assistance program, to about 1,850 elderly and/or disabled legal immigrants who will lose Supplemental Security Income benefits because of the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

Concerning legal immigrants and public assistance programs, states were given the option to provide or deny cash assistance, health care coverage through Medicaid, and other means-tested programs to legal immigrants arriving in the U.S. before August 22, 1996. Exempt from this provision are refugees in the U.S. for less than five years, veterans, and persons with 40 quarters of work history.

In Kansas, about 3,000 legal immigrants would have lost benefits after January 1 if the state chose to deny benefits.

Secretary Chronister said SRS, which administers public assistance programs in Kansas, will continue to provide assistance to these legal immigrants unless policymakers tell her differently. She said a number of the legal immigrants currently receiving public assistance are nursing home residents while others receive home and community services that prevent nursing home placement.

The decision to continue providing benefits for legal immigrants will not have an effect on the current SRS budget since the state is already providing these benefits, Chronister said.

Under the federal legislation, current and future legal immigrants are barred from receiving SSI benefits until they become citizens, with the same exceptions as in public assistance programs. Assistance to current SSI recipients is scheduled to be terminated by the Social Security Administration by the summer of 1997. There are about 1,850 disabled and elderly legal immigrants in Kansas who may lose SSI benefits because of this change.

The decision to cover these legal immigrants with General Assistance will provide them about 40 percent of the cash assistance they previously received under SSI. Under GA, they also will continue to receive Medicaid coverage, something that previously was available with SSI.

Since disabled and elderly legal immigrants were already receiving Medicaid coverage, there is no additional cost to continue this medical coverage under General Assistance. Because GA is entirely state funded, the cost to Kansas because of this change will be about $3.5 million.

Chronister said the decisions to make public assistance programs available to legal immigrants and to cover elderly and disabled legal immigrants formerly provided SSI with GA is consistent with direction provided by the SRS Transition Oversight Committee of the Legislature. She said the entire Legislature will be given information about these and other choices faced by the state due to federal welfare reform.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001