Health care reform
The conservative right in Congress and in the mainstream are attacking the health care reform packages put forward by the President and Democratic Leadership as an enhancement for illegal immigrants. Furthermore the conservatives believe that any public option would attrack even more illegal immigration. This is absolutely false and could be further from the truth; it is only an attempt to circumvent real health care reform.
What is now occurring involves a real debate on illegal immigration and the lack of attention to this important issue. Health Care Reform is now making the Administration and Congress address this important issue and how illegal immigration deals with the health care reform debate. Congress, along with the current and prior Presidents, have not been forceful to create a true immigration reform package to end illegal immigration and put all illegal immigrants either on the books or out of the country. We cannot move forward on any true reform with health care or immigration unless both issues are addressed.
All we have to look at an example of how to deal with the immigration issue is in Canada. In Canada they have universal health coverage, a large immigration program, and very few undocumented workers. In Canada, they do not tolerate illegal immigration because of the cost to the government guaranteed medical care. The Canadian immigration system is more difficult than the U.S. system and thereby is the gate keeper also for the Canadian health care system. Per an immigration report in 2003 from the Canadian government, the estimated number of undocumented people living in Canada is somewhere between 100,000 to 200,000, compared to 20 million in the U.S. When compared to United States, illegal immigration to Canada is less.
In the current health care reform legislation that is coming from the Democrats in Congress, it states, “No Federal Payment for Undocumented Aliens.” Furthermore, it requires all Americans to have coverage, while denying subsidies to illegal immigrants, whatever their income. This means illegal immigrants would have to obtain health insurance and pay full cost for it. However the Republicans in Congress and the conservative media are attempting to use scare tactics towards the public in creating histaria concerning illegal immigrants getting free health care. Of course our current school system allows illegal immigrants to receive services however Medicaid, Medicare, and other public programs have systems in place denying services to illegal immigrants.
What is needed in American today is real health care reform, along with a common sense approach to the issue of illegal immigration. We cannot continue to function and create real reforms in this country until the issue of illegal immigration is addressed. We need a solution to the immigration problem and to secure our borders.
Tags: health care, health care reform
Henry Carver