Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
If Only There Were Truth to Wilson's Heckling.
Well, as Tim anticipated, Rep. Joe Wilson's conniption fit is one of the big stories of the day. After a stern excoriation from Rahm Emanuel, the South Carolina congressman apologized for loudly accusing Obama of lying when the president said that no illegal immigrants would be covered by any of the health-care bills in consideration.
The Baucus plan currently going around, of course, explicitly states that "[no] illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits" and limits the insurance mandate to U.S. citizens and legal residents. But Dana is right to ask whether undocumented immigrants should be covered in some capacity. Beyond potentially skewing employer hiring incentives, the exclusion of immigrants from the plan will create a financial burden on the system anyway -- which seems to be conservatives' big concern. By law, hospitals are not allowed to refuse care to anyone in an emergency situation, whether the person is insured or not. The cost of the uninsured then falls both on the hospitals and on the government, which provides $250 million annually as reimbursement through Section 1011 of the Medicare Modernization Act, which has been extended through this year.
So, tax dollars are already being spent on care for uninsured and undocumented immigrants. And hospital resources are being strained since the losses aren't fully accounted for, which can have an effect on the quality of medical care provided to the general population. Regardless of the system in place, coverage of undocumented immigrants is a problem that's going to need to be dealt with. Given that, shouldn't we be working toward a solution that's more transparent and just?
--Alexandra Gutierrez
COMMENTS (3)
The vast majority of hospitals are putative non profits that receive tax exempt status, in large part because of the community benefits they provide. This is one of those benefits. We actually are paying for it at least in part via tax exempt status. So our overall public expenditure is much greater than stated here. This only reinforces the point that, on healthcare, treating people according to the golden rule no matter where they come from is something that is morally proper and fiscally important.
Posted by: benton | September 10, 2009 9:29 AM
As usual the opponents of any kind of restriction on the illegal immigration, is playing the race card? It's a forgone conclusion that the benefactors of promoting a mass invasion of our shores, such as religious groups, unions, ACLU, radical ethnic caucuses and even our own US Chamber of Commerce, will mouth epithets that doesn't benefit big business that doesn't advocate a continuous force of illegal cheap labor. Now they are really livid because their objection to E-Verify was thrown out of court. Now all federal contractors and subcontractors must adhere to the law. They have conspired against the American worker and people for too long, and now we are fighting back ourselves against corrupt politicians and other elected officials nationwide,
Rep.Joe Wilson was actually telling the truth at the time, and now Democrats have placed restrictive language in the Health care reform package as a reluctant afterthought by public demand. This was nothing to do about bigotry or racism, but the American workers and family survival. None of the business community who hire them wants their labor, but forces the taxpayer to carry the financial load. The US labor force should not have to be in competition, with people from other countries. Businesses have already offshore American jobs, because it's cheaper? So every illegal foreign national and family member should be exempt from government run health care, jobs and all the billions of taxpayer dollars secretly allocated to pay for their support. Twenty million plus illegal people compromised themselves, when they entered a sovereign nation without permission. Find out the truth at NUMBERSUSA, JUDICIAL WATCH and contact your politician at 202-224-3121 demanding no weakening conditions to E-Verify or any other law authored by Congress.
Posted by: Brittancus | September 16, 2009 7:00 PM
The vast majority of hospitals are putative non profits that receive tax exempt status, in large part because of the community benefits they provide. This is one of those benefits. We actually are paying for it at least in part via tax exempt status. So our overall public expenditure is much greater than stated here. This only reinforces the point that, on healthcare, treating people according to the golden rule no matter where they come from is something that is morally proper and fiscally important.
Posted by: auto insurance | November 6, 2009 3:57 PM