These policies led immigrants to desert government benefit programs in large numbers. The authors note that the welfare reform's verification and reporting requirements, and fear of public charge determinations are critical factors having a chilling effect on immigrants' use of benefits. Similarly, a March 1998 GAO report found that one-third of the uninsured children who were eligibile for Medicaid reside in immigrant households. In addition, since farmworkers earn the bulk of their income in a concentrated portion of the year, the typical process of determining eligibility by looking at the past two-months income may disqualify some needy children whose parents' income spiked during that time period. Can Be Overcome Efforts to overcome immigration concerns are underway.
States also have options which can simplify the process for enrolling farmworker children.