The line in the President’s speech that made Congressman Joe Wilson shout "You lie!" was an assertion that illegal immigrants would not be covered by the health care reform proposals making their way through Congress. The President was correct and the Congressman was wrong: There is explicit language in the bill guaranteeing that it will not cover those who are in this country illegally. But, they are both wrong on the policy. Health care reform should include undocumented workers and their families.
Cong. Wilson based his claim on the fact that Congress turned down a Republican-sponsored amendment that would have required health providers to demand proof from their clients that they were in the country legally. Apart from the Orwellian aspect of the proposal to turn health care providers into law enforcement officials, a similar effort was already tried and failed with Medicaid. It turns out that very few undocumented workers access the nation’s health care system because they are afraid their status will be discovered. The Medicaid provision had the unintended consequence of denying coverage to U.S. citizens who lack proper identification. I know it may seem bizarre to middle class America that there are some people who do not have driver’s licenses, but in the real world of urban poverty, there are many such people. So, the Democrats were right to turn back the GOP amendment.
I do not fault the Democrats in Congress or the President for failing to include undocumented workers in the health care reform effort. The fact is that such an inclusion would doom the reform effort politically, which doesn’t do anything to advance the cause of health care or the cause of immigrants. The Democrats should, however, recommit to passing comprehensive immigration reform by the end of the year. I know that this will require another tough vote for some Blue Dog Dems, but the measure will enjoy some bipartisan support so the congressional leadership might be able to give Sen. Nelson and others a pass.
The U.S. Bishops have called for immigrants, legal or otherwise, to be included in the health care reform effort. Theirs is a lonely voice on this issue, as it is on the issue of abortion. The fact that their voice will not be effective in the health care for immigrants debate should not cause them, or their flock, to become angry or frustrated. As von Balthasar insisted, "success is not a name of God and is, therefore, not a Gospel category." We are called to defend the immigrant, the poor, the unborn, and all whom society marginalizes, in season and out of season.
Many bemoan the fact that the political culture has coarsened and they point to Cong. Wilson’s heckling the President in the House chamber. But, both the heckler and the heckled provide evidence of a far more consequential coarsening of our political culture. Many, especially on the right, demonize immigrants, and do so in a nation built by immigrants. And even the most powerful person in the world must pay political tribute to that demonization by assuring the nation that fellow human beings will not be able to get basic health care for themselves and their children. The bishops may be lonely in calling for immigrants to be covered, but they are being faithful to the Gospel.
In a nutshell here are salient points where he was not being truthful about abortion.
The president said “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” But the House bill would permit a “public option” to cover all abortions, and would also permit federal subsidies to be used to purchase private insurance that covers all abortions, a point that raises objections from anti-abortion groups. That’s true despite a technical ban on use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion coverage.
The president repeated his promise that his plan won’t add “one dime” to the federal deficit. But legislation offered so far would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The president overstated the degree of concentration in the insurance industry. He said that in 34 states the “insurance market” is controlled by five or fewer companies, but that’s true only of insurance bought by small groups, not the entire “insurance market.”
Obama said his plan won’t “require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” It’s true that there’s no requirement, but experts say the legislation could induce employers to switch coverage for millions of workers.
Here is with FactCheck.org found inconsistent with this speech.
[url=http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/obamas-health-care-speech/]http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/obamas-health-care-speech/[/url]
Ricky, health care for undocumented immigrants is a life issue, both because they face death without health care and because they are more likely to get an abortion if they can't get it. Indeed, anyone who is uninsured and part of the working poor is more likely to get an abortion if they don't have health care coverage - and not only for the pregnancy - but also for the child after it is born and the family at large. While the SCHIP program will provide some of this, it is little known in some sectors and hardly automatic. Health care reform will change this and will decrease abortions more than covering them will increase them.
If someone purchases a healthcare policy, may the government or someone else decide which services they may choose to have covered? Will health insurance companies begin requiring proof of citizenship in order to purchase a policy?
Moreover, denying care to all persons puts the rest of us at risk. Tuberculosis, for example, is on the rise again in America because too many who carry it are afraid to seek treatment. If you ride a bus, a train, an airplane, or visit crowded public places where TB carriers may be present, you are putting your own health at risk by denying care.
It's no wonder we're 37th on the World Health Organization list in terms of quality of healthcare.
Obama began the speech saying that health care is "a basic human right".
Then he claimed that undocumented workers won't get it.
So, are they sub-human?
It is very easy to be on one's high horse about "illegals" entering the country without proper authorization to do so when you have never had to sleep on the ground or choose between purchasing a pair of shoes for a child or buying anonther few days worth of food on a week's pay. The vast majority of the Latin American population who entered the U.S. illegally did so out of sheer desperation. Harsh immigration laws and brutal deportation policies have the effect (if not the intent) of criminalizing poverty.
As Catholics, let us stand unequivocally on the side of the poor, the powerless, those considered of no account or value by society. Some of the best people that I know are undocumented immigrants who came to this country because it was the only chance that they had to escape desperate poverty, a poverty that often precluded even the most basic health care for their children. They deserve better than the horrible treatment that they have received from many of us in this country.
Hospitals have a legal obligation to treat everyone who comes in seeking care, regardless of citizenship status, insurance or other characteristics. This means that hospitals treat millions of people every year who don’t have the means to pay. Obviously, this drives up the nation’s healthcare costs overall. Section 1011 helps cushion the costs for hospitals, but it’s [url=http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1202441.html]not nearly enough to cover the actual costs[/url] in most areas.
To be fair, Section 1011 is just a small part of a much larger bill that contained many Republican priorities. Still, Wilson’s protest against the current healthcare reform proposal giving coverage to illegal immigrants (which is [url=http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1210-Read-the-Bill-Illegal-Immigrants-Are-NOT-Covered]false[/url]), is in direct contradiction to his 2003 vote. Allowing illegal immigrants to purchase unsubsidized healthcare through the Exchange that would be set up under the current proposal wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent, and it would be a step towards fixing the problem that Section 1011 was designed to throw federal money at.
So, Wilson doesn't have a problem voting to federally fund healthcare for illegal immigrants just as long as the bill is one that a Republican president wants passed.
Explains everything.
1) Was Wilson right?
and
2) This is a blatant, outright violation of Catholic Social Teaching. Michael Sean Winters, are you going to keep shilling for Obama forever?
People on vacation from Europe will not be part of the plan, so how ever their situation is handled will be how illegal immigrants are handled. They will probably have to pay their bill at the time of service. If they are unconcious from an accident and are taken without their consent to a hospital, well....
It seems to me that bringing this concern into the debate about health care reform is just intended to exploit people's prejudices in order to undermine the effort at reform.