Senator Hutchison Blames Illegal Immigrants

Bill Zeeble, KERA News (2009-07-24)


DALLAS, TX (KERA) -

At a Dallas press conference, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison blamed illegal immigrants for making Texas the national leader in uninsured residents. But hospital officials and state statistics don't back her up. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more.

At the trauma center in Dallas' Parkland Hospital, Senator Hutchison was joined by local hospital executives in denouncing President Obama's health care reform plans before Congress.

Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured. When asked how she would solve that problem, Senator Hutchison blamed illegal immigrants.

Hutchison: We have the highest number of uninsured mostly because of the illegal immigrant population.

State hospital officials say that's wrong. Ann Ward is a Vice President with the Texas Hospital Association, in Austin.

Ann ward: People say illegal immigrants are a large part of the uninsured population but the studies I've seen by the Texas Department of Insurance, it's less than 20 percent of uninsured are illegal immigrants. And one thing we know, many of the people who come to hospitals for care. They pay, they pay cash.

Ward blames the state's high uninsured count on many low wage workers who cannot afford private insurance. She also says Texas has a lot of small businesses which don't offer employees health insurance.

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