State Report: South Carolina

The first phase of SCHIEx, a password-protected Web site, features medical claims data for as many as 700,000 state Medicaid recipients. The tool allows physicians to see up to 10 year's worth of a patient's Medicaid claims, including past diagnoses, medications, provider visits and hospitalization history.

IMMIGRATION LAW

The law requires that any adult seeking care at a state-funded health clinic or hospital provide an affidavit that states the individual is in the country legally; however, the law does not require actual proof of citizenship. The affidavit would later be verified through the Department of Homeland Security.

Enforcement is complicated because federal law requires that all individuals receive emergency care, regardless of immigration status and because no agency has been assigned responsibility for enforcing the law. Still, fear might reduce the number of undocumented immigrants seeking care and might result in additional spending if they delay seeking care.

HIV MEDICATIONS

The South is not receiving enough federal funding to provide adequate HIV prevention and treatment, according to a report by the Southern AIDS Coalition.

An increasing number of new HIV cases in the South, combined with "inadequate funding, resources and infrastructure," have resulted in a "catastrophic situation in our public healthcare systems in the South," the report says.

MHE Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Urban Institute; Kaiser Family Foundation; U.S. Census Bureau; The Commonwealth Fund.