Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Illegal Immigration and Health Care Reform

Why are the Republicans so adamant against the Public Option?  That's simple; it's because it will work.  Next to a single-payer system (which would save the most money) it is the best option for stopping the doubling costs of health care while insuring everyone.   The Insurance companies are terrified of this option and are spending billions buy off our representatives and on spreading lies with false advertising and on paying loud dissenters to shout down the people who are for it.  
I intend to post the truth about the negative objections and lies being spread on my next blogs.  I will take them one at a time and dissect it.  Today's blog is illegal immigration.
When Joe Wilson's outburst "You Lie" was debunked it didn't stop the right wing  from claiming that illegal immigrants would be able to get health care under Obama's proposals and the five bills under consideration for health care reform.
Here's the dirty little secret; It's just a straw man as another way of defeating health care reform.   In an article by Froma Harrop I found the  following:
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The House health-reform bill has an entire section titled, "No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens." Furthermore, it requires every worker to have coverage, while denying subsidies to illegal immigrants, whatever their income. In other words, illegal immigrants would have to obtain health insurance and pay full freight for it.


Republican foes of the legislation. The illegals will get around it. "Without the verification, you can't frankly believe it is serious," says Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas. Fair point. Let's address it.


As a practical matter, undocumented workers shy away from government programs that could expose their illegal status. A law passed in 2005 requires applicants to Medicaid, which insures poor people, to prove their citizenship. Two years later, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform studied Medicaid enrollments in five states (Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin). It found only eight illegal immigrants on the rolls.

But, says Georgia Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey, "a lot of their kids are in the school system." That's true. The schools don't check for immigration status. Medicaid does. And so would the health care system now envisioned by Congress.

The administration has just started requiring any company seeking sizeable federal contracts to use the E-Verify system, a database containing Social Security and other records, to ensure that its workers are legal. (First it had to fight off a suit by the Chamber of Commerce and industry groups that use undocumented labor.) 

Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who heads the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, is promoting biometric tools to replace the use of documents that can be counterfeited or stolen. Biometrics rely on such unique identifiers as fingerprints and the iris of the eye.
To sum it up, the Democrats' policies are already reining in illegal immigration, and the proposed health care reform would, if anything, contain it further. Those trying to stop reform should look elsewhere for scare tactics.
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When you search for facts instead of listening to the ones who are the shills for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. you find that the Single Payer system is the best way to reform our mess.  Okay, that's not on the table so the Public Option is the next best solution.  If we don't have that, the Insurance Industry that is only interested in profits will continue to run, and ruin, our health care system.

12 comments:

Friko said...

From here over the water the situation in the US looks pretty messy and desperate. Will any kind of health reform actually b possible in view of the ugly lies that are being told?
Good luck, you'll need it.

I have also left a comment on your previous post, a post right after my own heart.

Rummuser said...

Wow! You don't pull your punches do you? Keep them coming. I am fascinated. The two comments that I have just read apart from your post are also very interesting to a neutral observer of what is going on. I hope more will join in.

Darlene said...

*Brittanicus_ thank you for your visit and comment. I welcome all comments if they are reasoned and courteous. Yours was, and I will try to address the issues on illegal immigrants pertaining to health care reform.

The only eyes Joe Wilson opened were the shocked eyes of the public that such rude behavior occurred in the hallowed halls of Congress. Next to Cheney telling a Congressman to go f__ himself, this was the most outrageous thing to have occurred in my memory. I don't care what man is president,; the office of the presidency deserves more respect.

Amnesty is a straw man word. No one, right, left or middle has proposed amnesty. The definition of amnesty is: pardon for political offenses.

You have it backwards. The Tea Party demonstrations were well covered by the media. Did anyone see coverage of the counter demonstrations for the single payer health care reform? I didn't.

It was the Chamber of Commerce (read big corporations or capitalism) who were fighting E-Verify. I can't find anything about Nancy Peolosi and Harry Reid's position except on the right wing sites. I have written Nancy Pelosi about it. Stay tuned.

You confused me with your comment about the $18,000 dialysis treatments. You said the government pays a small portion and the rest is paid by the hospital and the taxpayers. One is not separate from the other. When the government pays it IS the taxpayers who are paying. This is an argument FOR reform. If we are already paying for the medical cost of illegal immigrates then the proposal to have all immigrants carry insurance and pay for it would defray the cost of their care. (Read my blog again.)

Incidentally, Judicial Watch is a right wing publication.

*Friko - It is messy and getting messier. Thanks for noting that.

*Rummuser - No, I tell it like I see it. Diplomacy is not my strong suit.

20th Century Woman said...

If any kind of decent health reform passes it will be largely because of people like you, Darlene. You are a trooper!

Darlene said...

*20th Century Woman - Thank you.

joared said...

You're doing a really good job of dispelling some of the falsehoods that are being foisted on the unsuspecting. Hopefully, there are some who still have an open mind and actually try to think rationally about the facts.

Darlene said...

*Joared - Thank you. I hope you're right. Othewise I am wasting an awful lot of time.

Looking to the Stars said...

Good post, kiddo (as always) keep it coming!

(Today is the first day I have been able to get to my blog. The phone company has been working on the lines and screwing things up namely my internet connection)

Always love your posts :)

Jean said...

good job well done!

ps you're invited to comment on my post too =)

Taru Fisher said...

Well done, Darlene. I look forward to your other posts dispelling the lies we are being fed about the Public Option. I link to them on my Facebook and Twitter accounts so the word gets spread.

You are not wasting your time!

Tom Degan said...

Count on this: There will be a nice-paying, cushy job for Max Baucus at some insurance lobbying firm - or the Republican National Committee - next time 'round when he is defeated for reelection as surely he will be - as surely he must be..

It's people like poor old Max that are the walking, talking personifications of why I left the Democratic party over a decade ago. They have forgotten that they are (or were) the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Pity.

www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan, Goshen, NY

Darlene said...

*Looking to the Stars - Isn't it terrible when you can't get on the internet? I feel totally lost when that happens.

*SJ - Thank you for your visit. I noticed that you became a follower of my blog. Thank you so very much.

*Tom Degan's Daily Rant - I hope you're right about him not being reelected. It would serve him right. Read Paul Krugman's op-ed piece today in the NYT on the Baucus bill. A good analysis.