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Obama: Legalize illegals to get them health care


By Stephen Dinan (Contact)

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

He also staked out a position that anyone in the country legally should be covered - a major break with the 1996 welfare reform bill, which limited most federal public assistance programs only to citizens and longtime immigrants.

"Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don't simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken," Mr. Obama said Wednesday evening in a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. "That's why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.

Mr. Obama added, "If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all."

Republicans said that amounts to an amnesty, calling it a backdoor effort to make sure current illegal immigrants get health care.

"It is ironic that the president told the American people that illegal immigrants should not be covered by the health care bill, but now just days later he's talking about letting them in the back door," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

"If the American people do not want to provide government health care for illegal immigrants, why would they support giving them citizenship, the highest honor America can bestow?" Mr. Smith said.

But immigrant rights groups see the speech as a signal that Mr. Obama is committed to providing health care coverage for anyone in the United States legally, regardless of their citizenship status.

"It's the first time I've certainly heard, publicly, him talking more about legal immigrants," said Eric Rodriguez, vice president for research and advocacy at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). "I think that was certainly positive progress. We were absolutely concerned about not hearing that."

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Just curious, Jazmine, what YOU would like to see happen to, say, a child who was sneaked across the border by his or her parents and then gets seriously sick or injured while illegally in our country. Or for that matter, the parents. Of course you realize that illegals are getting health care here right now, mainly in emergency rooms, on our collective dime. As much as you or I or anyone else may be against illegal immigration, what the hell do we do with people who shouldn't be here but are in urgent need of medical attention? I doubt whether Obama or Congress will even go remotely near the option of including illegals in whatever health insurance plan emerges. Does that make a popular STATEMENT about illegal immigration? Sure. But does that do the slightest thing to stop the expensive misuse of the emergency room as primary health care provider? No. Answers please, because right now I don't have any.
Just curious. If I were taken to an ER in Canada for an emergency would they treat me? Then what would they do about followup care? Would I get to stay in Canada and get free ongoing care for me and my family members?
I have no idea how Canada or any other country addresses this issue, which is hardly unique to America. Obviously, we should be looking at the health care systems of other countries--what they do well and what they do poorly--on this issue and many others as we seek to rethink and revamp how to ration socialized health care here. Health care in all countries must be rationed and socialized because there is only so much money that can be devoted to it, and because only a billionaire would be able to pay for his or her own major medical treatment. The way we do this right now, largely through "coverage" decisions made by profit-seeking private insurance companies, can certainly be improved upon. But whether we'll get that improvement in any meaningful fashion from this latest effort at reform is far from certain.
Oh I long for the good old days... the George Bush days... when we could just stick our heads in the sand and pretend none of these problems exist
Keep drinking that kook-aid, Finn.
the demoRATS will ruin everything
OhBrother and countymounty are perfect examples of why Obama kicked ass in this past election. If the right doesn't grow out of the juvenile tea party smackdown stage, we will indeed become a one party country. That would be a great tragedy, because the right--by which I mean the ever-dwindling thinking and principled right--is needed for counterbalancing wisdom. The principles of limited government and individual autonomy have long and distinguished histories, have played important roles in American political thought and expression. But if the right keeps courting the red meat racist element so obviously present, among others, at these "townhalls" and anti-Obama rallies, the right and its Republican party will join the Whigs in the dustbin of history. I think that OhBrother and countymounty sort of know this or at least sense it, and that is probably what makes them so nasty.
Again with the race card... chug-a-lug Finn!
OhBrother Wrote:Keep drinking that kook-aid, Finn.

OhBrother Wrote:Again with the race card... chug-a-lug Finn!

countymounty Wrote:the demoRATS will ruin everything

Perhaps if you presented an argument explaining why Newton's ideas are bad or presented an opinion on the original post instead of pointless one-liners, a serious discussion could take place.

Just a thought.
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