"Show me your papers..."

A new federal law now being implemented in California will require nearly 1 million Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Los Angeles County to submit proof of citizenship and identity to obtain or maintain their benefits, officials said Tuesday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The benefit reductions, a result of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, were intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving health benefits.

But county officials, who are preparing to implement the program in the next few months, say the law has had the unintended consequence in other states of preventing many U.S. citizens and legal residents who can't locate the required documents from obtaining or continuing to receive health benefits.