Dems’ health plan would limit immigrant aid
Latinos shaken by Senate gambit to win conservative and moderate votes
By LYNSI BURTON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 21, 2009, 12:00AM

Moderate Dems pivotal in Saturday health care vote

WASHINGTON — The latest loser in the political pandemonium over health care reform may be immigrants living in America, an estimated 24 million people likely to be bartered in order to win support in Congress from fence-sitting Democratic moderates and conservatives.

Just as House Democratic leaders sacrificed the wishes of abortion-rights activists in a successful gambit to win the votes of anti-abortion Democrats last week, the Senate leadership has included provisions in its health care proposal that would bar any aid to illegal immigrants and would restrict assistance to immigrants residing legally in the United States.

The hesitation to include more immigrants has substantial implications for states like Texas, which has the highest number of uninsured immigrants in the country — at least 1.5 million people, some legal permanent residents, some not, according to an October study by the pro-immigration Migration Policy Institute in Washington.

The concessions to immigration critics have shaken Latino rights groups, who have strongly backed Democratic attempts to overhaul the American health care system.

“Diseases know no boundaries,â€