Health Care for Illegals?

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled "You lie!" at President Barack Obama after the President claimed that his health-care bill did not cover illegal immigrants. Actually, the bill bars coverage for illegals, but does mandate verification of legal status. Democrats have voted down Republican proposals for requiring verification. (1)

On September 15 the House of Representatives voted 240-179 to rebuke Wilson for his boorish interruption; Milwaukee Rep. Gwen Moore was one of only twelve Democrats to oppose the rebuke. I would have voted for it, if only to go on record against the pernicious decline in civility that has marred our public dialogues in recent years. Coincidentally, on the same day Iraq released the man who threw his shoes at President George W Bush last year . At least Wilson kept his shoes on.

But more important is the question of what to do if an illegal immigrant becomes sick or injured. Right now, anyone (legal or illegal) can seek treatment at a hospital emergency room, and the hospital must provide it (1). This is because we are a just and benevolent society, and so, we do not want people to spread infectious diseases or bleed to death just because they cannot pay for treatment or even prove they are in the US legally. The alternative of denying emergency medical service is unconscionable.

If a person does not pay his hospital bill, and collection efforts fail, the hospital writes off the loss and the cost is passed on to other patients, including those whose bills are covered by various government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Since many illegal immigrants are very poor, we are already paying for their emergency care, one way or the other.

If the "public option" provision of the pending Healthcare Bill is enacted without verification of citizenship, it is likely that some illegal aliens will lie to the government to get coverage. If so, the hospitals that treat them will be reimbursed by the federal government, and the cost will not be passed on to other patients (except in the sense that they are also taxpayers). This will alleviate a vexatious problem for hospitals in areas with large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Although we should continue to treat the illegals when they get hurt or sick, there should be a penalty for lying to the government about their status. I would favor a system of random audits of people who have received medical benefits to determine if any of them are illegal immigrants; if any such are found, they should be deported. The risk of deportation would discourage illegals for applying for or using the federal health-care insurance, unless the need was extremely urgent.

But even if this modest amendment is rejected, the bill itself should still pass, because the benefits of establishing the public option (for the vast majority of uninsured who are American citizens) outweighs the drawback of possibly paying for the health care of some illegal aliens.

And that is no lie!
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(1) Myron Radke in the Your Opinions section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of September 16, 2009, page 12A.