Health care reform to cover illegal immigrants?
August 12, 12:39 PM
Mesa Independent Examiner
Christina Wijfjes-Smit
1 comment

The language of the health care bill, in regard to coverage of illegal immigrants, is obscure and can be understood to cover illegal immigrants but also to exclude them. President Obama assures the American people that illegal immigrants will not be covered; however, recently the House Ways and Means Committee rejected an amendment that would have required the government to verify that those enrolling in the "public plan" are not illegal immigrants.

Without a system in place to verify an individual’s immigration status, how will we identify those here illegally? We can’t, that may just be the point.

Notes made on July 28, 2009 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform read, “In late June, the National Council of La Raza issued a statement demanding that Congress give illegal alien’s taxpayer-funded health care under this bill. This week, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) also urged Speaker Pelosi to ensure that illegal aliens are covered by the health care reform bill. (Roll Call, July 24, 2009). According to a CHC member, the organization's leaders are not asking Speaker Pelosi to "specifically spell something out" in the bill, but instead to seek to ensure that the bill does not actually prohibit illegal aliens from receiving benefits. "We're pushing to include everyone in the health care bill. Everyone," the CHC member who asked not to be identified said. "Sometimes if you don't say something, something happens." (Id.).â€