USA moves to withdraw health care facilities to illegal immigrants
by Pankaj Berry - November 30, 2009
After this healthcare legislation, at least 15% of the US residents would be excluded from health care benefits for being illegal immigrants in the country.
As a part of President Obama’s "comprehensive health insurance reform", an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants would not be entitled for any insurance at work. Most of these workers do not have means to afford medical treatment on their own.
Santa Cruz County alone has roughly 30,000 undocumented immigrants who currently receive millions of dollars worth of health care. Over the past few years, consensus is emerging that providing more health care for those not legally in the country is both unaffordable and unfair and it encourages illegal immigration.
As Dustin Carnevale, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigrant Reform said "It shouldn't encourage future immigration or help out those who are here illegally now". Under pressure of such concerns, even politicians having long record of supporting immigrant rights go out of their way to support current legislation.
However, the exclusion of such illegal immigrants from health care facilities may have some unintended consequences.
Undocumented immigrants will continue to use emergency rooms, which cannot turn away patients based on their immigration status, as their first line of medical treatment. Also it may provide an added incentive for some employers to hire undocumented immigrants rather than citizens to avoid new requirements that they provide health insurance to their workers, making it even more difficult for Americans to find jobs.
In a further burden for some immigrants, the House bill requires residents to buy insurance regardless of their immigration status. However it does not permit for government subsidies to those who are in the U.S. illegally.
To allay the fears that some illegal immigrants may use fake documents to get coverage many argue for stricter verification procedures. However, many legal residents also lack such identification as passports, driving license etc.
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