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No luxury, a liberal journalists opinion
President Obama has taken immigration reform off the to-do list for 2009, no doubt concluding there were already enough hot-button issues to keep Lou Dobbs, Fox News and the Flat Earth Society frothing at the mouth. What he doesn't have is the luxury to exclude immigration policy from the health-care-reform debate, a battle he has engaged in earnest.
Health care "Swift boaters" - these are the disinformation squads dedicated to choking off civil and informed discussion of reform - have been aggressively spreading the falsehood that the pending health-care bills would provide free care to illegal immigrants. The canard has gained momentum by repetition - on talk radio, via e-mail, "robocalls," etc., all adding to Americans' fear, insecurity and confusion. (Not all reform foes are "Swift boaters," mind you, but those purposely gumming up the public discussion with lies and distortions know who they are; in fact, the same advertising outfit responsible for the "Swift boat" commercials that doomed Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid is on the job again, working on behalf of those opposed to health-care reform.)
Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, running for the 19th District seat in Congress, told a news conference Monday that "runaway lawsuits" and undocumented immigrants were to blame for the country's health-care crisis. He added that the proposed reforms would "force American taxpayers to foot the bill for taxpayer-funded, illegal-alien health care ." That kind of talk has been rampant at the raucous town meetings on reform, even though the assertion doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Some fact-checking
President Obama was specifically asked by interviewer Katie Couric of CBS News if illegal immigrants should be included in comprehensive health-care reform. The president responded simply, "No." But we don't need to rely on his word alone. PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking site run by the St. Petersburg Times, recently critiqued "the longest chain e-mail we've ever received. A page-by-page analysis of the House health care bill argues that reform will end the health care system as we know it: 'Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! ... Page 42: The 'Health Choices Commissioner' will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. ... Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services.'"
Said the Times: "We read the bill and its legislative summary, and could find nothing about free health care for anyone, much less noncitizens." PolitiFact.com said it confirmed its assessment through Jennifer Tolbert, an independent health care analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan foundation that studies health-care reform. "Tolbert has read and analyzed all the major health proposals, including those of the Republicans, and the foundation provides point-by-point analyses of the plans on its Web site. 'No one's provided with free health care. That's ridiculous,'" Tolbert said.
More fact-checking
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org engaged in a similar analysis. It took aim at a press release from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that said 5.6 million "Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare." Wrote FactCheck.org: "King claimed that this is what the Congressional Budget Office's recent analysis . . . said. But it didn't. His press release also said that the 5.6 million would be covered 'in large part because the liberal proposal does not include any requirements to verify the citizenship or immigration status of those receiving taxpayer-funded health benefits.' That's not true, either." FactCheck.org refers to a provision in a House measure that states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." FactCheck notes as well that "illegal immigrants aren't eligible for federal health programs under current law," except for emergency care - because only an uncivilized society would deny emergency treatment to the stricken.
The aforementioned fact-checking doesn't mean that excluding coverage for uninsured illegal immigrants is necessarily the smartest or humane way to go. By some estimates, undocumented immigrants make up about 15 percent of the 47 million in this country without insurance. With our tacit approval - some industries absolutely depend upon their labor - many work in low-paying and hazardous jobs that provide no coverage. In effect, they subsidize profit and bargains for consumers and employers alike. They deserve better. Likewise, so do consumers and taxpayers, who pick up the (more expensive) tab when the uninsured seek care in emergency rooms. In short, "reform" that leaves millions still on the outside looking in is only partial reform, not an answer to the unsustainable status quo.
President Obama has taken immigration reform off the to-do list for 2009, no doubt concluding there were already enough hot-button issues to keep Lou Dobbs, Fox News and the Flat Earth Society frothing at the mouth. What he doesn't have is the luxury to exclude immigration policy from the health-care-reform debate, a battle he has engaged in earnest.
Health care "Swift boaters" - these are the disinformation squads dedicated to choking off civil and informed discussion of reform - have been aggressively spreading the falsehood that the pending health-care bills would provide free care to illegal immigrants. The canard has gained momentum by repetition - on talk radio, via e-mail, "robocalls," etc., all adding to Americans' fear, insecurity and confusion. (Not all reform foes are "Swift boaters," mind you, but those purposely gumming up the public discussion with lies and distortions know who they are; in fact, the same advertising outfit responsible for the "Swift boat" commercials that doomed Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid is on the job again, working on behalf of those opposed to health-care reform.)
Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, running for the 19th District seat in Congress, told a news conference Monday that "runaway lawsuits" and undocumented immigrants were to blame for the country's health-care crisis. He added that the proposed reforms would "force American taxpayers to foot the bill for taxpayer-funded, illegal-alien health care ." That kind of talk has been rampant at the raucous town meetings on reform, even though the assertion doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Some fact-checking
President Obama was specifically asked by interviewer Katie Couric of CBS News if illegal immigrants should be included in comprehensive health-care reform. The president responded simply, "No." But we don't need to rely on his word alone. PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking site run by the St. Petersburg Times, recently critiqued "the longest chain e-mail we've ever received. A page-by-page analysis of the House health care bill argues that reform will end the health care system as we know it: 'Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed! ... Page 42: The 'Health Choices Commissioner' will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. ... Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services.'"
Said the Times: "We read the bill and its legislative summary, and could find nothing about free health care for anyone, much less noncitizens." PolitiFact.com said it confirmed its assessment through Jennifer Tolbert, an independent health care analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan foundation that studies health-care reform. "Tolbert has read and analyzed all the major health proposals, including those of the Republicans, and the foundation provides point-by-point analyses of the plans on its Web site. 'No one's provided with free health care. That's ridiculous,'" Tolbert said.
More fact-checking
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org engaged in a similar analysis. It took aim at a press release from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, that said 5.6 million "Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare." Wrote FactCheck.org: "King claimed that this is what the Congressional Budget Office's recent analysis . . . said. But it didn't. His press release also said that the 5.6 million would be covered 'in large part because the liberal proposal does not include any requirements to verify the citizenship or immigration status of those receiving taxpayer-funded health benefits.' That's not true, either." FactCheck.org refers to a provision in a House measure that states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." FactCheck notes as well that "illegal immigrants aren't eligible for federal health programs under current law," except for emergency care - because only an uncivilized society would deny emergency treatment to the stricken.
The aforementioned fact-checking doesn't mean that excluding coverage for uninsured illegal immigrants is necessarily the smartest or humane way to go. By some estimates, undocumented immigrants make up about 15 percent of the 47 million in this country without insurance. With our tacit approval - some industries absolutely depend upon their labor - many work in low-paying and hazardous jobs that provide no coverage. In effect, they subsidize profit and bargains for consumers and employers alike. They deserve better. Likewise, so do consumers and taxpayers, who pick up the (more expensive) tab when the uninsured seek care in emergency rooms. In short, "reform" that leaves millions still on the outside looking in is only partial reform, not an answer to the unsustainable status quo.
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