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Health Care Proposal Covers Illegal Aliens Virtually every issue of concern to the American people is affectedby mass immigration and illegal immigration. As the debate aboutPresident Obama’s plan to reform our health care system raged over thesummer, the question of whether illegal aliens would be covered becamea point of controversy.

America’s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (AAHCA), H.R.3200, the House bill that would overhaul our national health caresystem, includes gaping loopholes that would allow illegal aliens toreceive taxpayer-funded benefits. According to analysis by FAIR, H.R.3200 would not prevent illegal aliens from enrolling in the publichealth care insurance plan created by the bill. Even though illegalaliens are technically ineligible to receive government “affordabilitycredits” to purchase private health insurance, many would likelybenefit from this program because the House neglected to include aprocedure to verify eligibility.

Illegal aliens represent a significant portion of the estimated45 million people in the United States who are uninsured. According tothe Center for Immigration Studies, immigrants (legal and illegal) andtheir U.S.-born children represent about one-third of those withouthealth coverage. Including them under a taxpayer-subsidized health caresystem would add billions to the costs of the program.

While both President Obama and congressional leaders supportinghis health care overhaul insist that illegal aliens would not becovered by a government health insurance program, H.R. 3200 includes noprohibition against the enrollment of illegal aliens. Thus, illegalaliens would benefit from a taxpayer-funded national health insuranceprogram. AAHCA does exclude illegal aliens from receiving affordabilitycredits to buy coverage through a private insurer, but even thatprohibition would be meaningless. The bill establishes no mechanism toverify eligibility for that benefit.

The glaring omissions and loopholes in AAHCA are deliberateand not mere oversights by House leaders. During a mark-up by the HouseWays & Means Committee, Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) offered anamendment that would have required eligibility verification for bothgovernment-provided insurance and affordability credits. The Helleramendment would require enrollees’ eligibility to be verified using theexisting Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement database and theIncome Eligibility Verification System. In a straight party-line vote,committee Democrats rejected these safeguards for American taxpayers.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee later rejected anamendment offered by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) that would have helpedprevent illegal aliens from enrolling in Medicaid. In a narrow 28 to 29vote, the committee rejected the opportunity to prevent illegal aliensfrom receiving Medicaid benefits.

AAHCA would also create an exception to a policy that requiresa five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to qualify for publicbenefits. Under H.R. 3200, legal immigrants would be immediatelyeligible to enroll in programs created under the legislation.

FAIR takes no position on AAHCA or President Obama’s efforts toimplement health care reform. However, consistent with ourlong-standing policies, we oppose all government-provided,non-essential, non-emergency benefits and services for illegal aliens.Allowing illegal aliens to benefit from a government health insuranceprogram or taxpayer credits for private insurance would be unfair andunwarranted. Such costly benefits would create additional inducementsfor illegal aliens come and remain in the U.S., and force law-abidingpeople to finance expensive benefits for illegal aliens.

As the debate about H.R. 3200 continues through the fall, FAIRwill continue to educate the public, the media and lawmakers about thebenefits provided to illegal aliens under the bill, and work to ensurethat they are barred from coverage under the bill.

http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/issues/healthcare_covers_illegals

Tonight, Judge Napolitano & another law expert stated that ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL BE COVERED in any Healthcare bill, no matter what is written into the law.   It is settled Constitutional law, based on Texas & California cases.   There is no way to prevent it, so anyone that says differently is either uninformed or being deliberately deceitful.