Thread: Obama Health Plan to Cover 12 Million Illegals

Obama Health Plan to Cover 12 Million Illegals

Sunday, July 19, 2009 6:32 PM

By: David A. Patten

On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama.

The House Ways and Means Committee nixed the Heller amendment by a 26-to-15 vote along straight party lines, and followed this action by passing the 1,018-page bill early Friday morning by a 23-to-18 margin, with three Democrats voting against the plan.

The Democratic plan will embrace Obama’s vision of bringing free government medical care to more than 45 million uninsured people in America – a significant portion of whom are illegal aliens.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, costs under the Obama plan being proposed by the House will saddle citizens with $1.04 trillion in new federal outlays over the next decade.

Congressional Democrats and Obama have argued that their health plan is necessary to contain rising health care costs.

But, last Thursday, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee and warned lawmakers that the proposed “legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."

A key factor increasing costs is that Democratic plan provides for blanket coverage to as much as 15 percent of the U.S. population not currently insured, including illegals.

Democrats had insisted throughout the health-care reform debate that illegals would be ineligible for the so-called public option plan that is to be subsidized by taxpayers.

"We're not going to cover undocumented aliens, undocumented workers," Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters in May. "That's too politically explosive."

Republicans, however, point out that the Democrats, by refusing to accept the Heller amendment, would deny health agencies from conducting simple database checks to verify citizenship. Many states give illegals driver licenses, which will be sufficient to get free health care under the plan.

Critics also contend that millions of illegals who already have counterfeit Social Security cards or other fraudulent documents. There is no enforcement mechanism in the legislation, experts say, to prevent illegals who use fake IDs to obtain jobs from also obtaining taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.

GOP representatives introduced the amendment to provide a way to weed out non-citizens from the program.

A description of the amendment on Heller's Web site state it would "better screen applicants for subsidized health care to ensure they are actually citizens or otherwise entitled to it."

The Web post added, "The underlying bill is insufficient for the purpose of preventing illegal aliens from accessing the bill’s proposed benefits, as it does not provide mechanisms allowing those administering the program to ensure illegal aliens cannot access taxpayer-funded subsidies and benefits."

The Heller amendment would have required that individuals applying for the public health care option would be subject to two systems used to verify immigration status already in use by the government: The Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) and the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.

The two systems cross-reference Social Security numbers and employment information to establish whether an individual is a U.S. citizen.

Critics: Free Health Care Means More Illegals

A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that an overwhelming 80 percent of Americans oppose covering illegals in any public health care bill.

Anti-immigration activists say the availability of low-cost benefits, including health insurance and in-state tuition, will only lure more immigrants to come to the United States.

Political analyst Dick Morris, in his recently released best-selling book “Catastropheâ€

There is an obvious conspiracy going on here. Why is the number 12 million always used to describe illegal aliens? Everyone knows that there are millions more of them squatting here in America. Why does our government want to grant amnesty to 12 million of them?

There is an obvious conspiracy going on here. Why is the number 12 million always used to describe illegal aliens? Everyone knows that there are millions more of them squatting here in America. Why does our government want to grant amnesty to 12 million of them?

((Reid explained the urgent need for amnesty in terms very similar to those that Democrats have used to press for health care reform. "We have an immigration system that's broken and needs repair," Reid said.))

Granting amnesty will repair a broken system? What a freaking liar. American's are not stupid, Reid!

((Reid explained the urgent need for amnesty in terms very similar to those that Democrats have used to press for health care reform. "We have an immigration system that's broken and needs repair," Reid said.))

Granting amnesty will repair a broken system? What a freaking liar. American's are not stupid, Reid!

Un f-ing believable. They really are going to do as they dam- well please. It does NOT matter to them at all what Americans want or what they promise to us. They are going to do what LaRaza and foreign nationals want, not what American citizens want.

Our ONLY hope is to get these traitors out of office in 2010.

Un f-ing believable. They really are going to do as they dam- well please. It does NOT matter to them at all what Americans want or what they promise to us. They are going to do what LaRaza and foreign nationals want, not what American citizens want.

Our ONLY hope is to get these traitors out of office in 2010.

Reid explained the urgent need for amnesty in terms very similar to those that Democrats have used to press for health care reform. "We have an immigration system that's broken and needs repair," Reid said.

Honest to goodness! What does fixing a so called "broken immigration" system do for Americans! Nothing, but bring us more misery and third world squalor. And if the system is "broken," then how does rewarding those who "broke the system" seem logical!

The only thing "broken" here is our leadership and the will to secure our borders and enforce immigration law. How come we never hear that from our elected officials!

How does a so called "leader" of the American people get away with making statements like this! This statment is indicitive of how morally bankrupt and corrupted this piece of......is!

Reid explained the urgent need for amnesty in terms very similar to those that Democrats have used to press for health care reform. "We have an immigration system that's broken and needs repair," Reid said.

Honest to goodness! What does fixing a so called "broken immigration" system do for Americans! Nothing, but bring us more misery and third world squalor. And if the system is "broken," then how does rewarding those who "broke the system" seem logical!

The only thing "broken" here is our leadership and the will to secure our borders and enforce immigration law. How come we never hear that from our elected officials!

How does a so called "leader" of the American people get away with making statements like this! This statment is indicitive of how morally bankrupt and corrupted this piece of......is!

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Reid explained the urgent need for amnesty in terms very similar to those that Democrats have used to press for health care reform. "We have an immigration system that's broken and needs repair," Reid said.

Honest to goodness! What does fixing a so called "broken immigration" system do for Americans! Nothing, but bring us more misery and third world squalor. And if the system is "broken," then how does rewarding those who "broke the system" seem logical!

The only thing "broken" here is our leadership and the will to secure our borders and enforce immigration law. How come we never hear that from our elected officials!

How does a so called "leader" of the American people get away with making statements like this! This statment is indicitive of how morally bankrupt and corrupted this piece of......is!

You got that right. We took a nice long road trip to Idaho to see family. On the way back, we passed through Ely, Nevada. I saw at least three rather large signs that if I remember right had wheels on them so they could be moved to different locations. They read "Anything BUTT Harry Reid!". What a scream! I wish I had my camera!
The man is DETESTABLE!