Illegals & health care: Deceit on the Hill

Thursday, September 10, 2009


A loophole in the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (HR 3200) could accommodate millions of illegal aliens and swallow billions of taxpayer dollars. That's unacceptable.

A new Center for Immigration Studies (cis.org) analysis notes that the bill says illegals wouldn't be eligible for taxpayer-funded health insurance "affordability credits." But, it points out, there's nothing in the bill to enforce that.

Just as bad, House committees' rejection of requirements to verify the identities of applicants claiming U.S. birth and to check applicants' immigration status via the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, already used by more than 70 "means-tested" federal benefits programs, suggests Congress really isn't interested in safeguards.

Based on a 2007 estimate of 6.6 million uninsured illegals who could end up receiving affordability credits, CIS presents a worst-case scenario: All those illegals getting those credits would cost taxpayers $30.5 billion annually.

But whatever the number, the principle is the same: Illegals have no right to U.S. taxpayer dollars.

HR 3200's toothless "ban" on affordability credits, combined with rejection of safeguards, smacks of deliberate deceit by a Congress more interested in paying lip service to that principle than in abiding by it.

And that's one more reason why Americans rightly oppose this health care "reform" proposal.

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