According to a report published by Forbes, health care for 3.9 million uninsured illegal aliens costs American taxpayers $18.5 billion annually. Of that total, $11.2 billion in federal taxes went to subsidizing care for illegal aliens in 2016.
According to Politico, unless the U.S. continues to bring in low-wage workers from abroad, there will no one to care for aging Baby Boomers because "there are reason's to assume" Americans won't be taking those jobs. The reasons for that assumption are not convincing, and the article's writer inadvertently makes a compelling case for how to improve wages and working condition for home health care workers.
The House of Representatives passed the Verify First Act, H.R. 2581, introduced by Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), on Tuesday. The legislation, which would block illegal aliens from taxpayer-funded health insurance credits, passed by a 238-to-184 margin.
NumbersUSA sent out the following statement to all Members of Congress, notifying them that we will score in favor the Verify First Act. The House will hold a vote on the proposed legislation tomorrow.
The Washington Times -- Stephen Dinan
That’s not good enough for immigration crackdown groups. They say Republicans should demand more details in the bill rather than leaving enforcement to departments that in four years could be in the administration of someone other than President Trump.
The California state legislature has passed a measure that will use an Affordable Care Act (ACA) loophole called an “innovation waiver” to offer healthcare subsidies to illegal aliens. Through the innovation waiver a state can apply to expand coverage as along as they pay the extra costs, which could be in the billions.
A new Wall Street Journal Survey showed that 20 out of the 25 counties in the U.S. with the highest levels of illegal aliens are using state funds to provide healthcare for local illegal aliens.
A new report for the Inspector General found that the Department of Health and Human Services spent $120.6 million between 2009-2011 to provide Medicare Parts B and D to illegal aliens. Illegal aliens are ineligible from receiving Medicare services.
RUMOR: Illegal aliens use emergency care all the time
RUMOR: Uninsured illegal aliens use more health care than uninsured native-born Americans
RUMOR: Illegal Aliens are Entitled to Welfare Benefits under the Constitution.
In a late-night vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) offered an amendment on Friday to a budget bill passed by the Senate that would have prevented any illegal aliens that receive amnesty from accessing taxpayer-funded healthcare, including Medicaid or subsidized plans provided as part of the Affordable Health Care Act. The amendment was voted down 43-to-56, including being voted down by four Members of the Gang of Eight.
Victory and success often carry complex consequences. The health care win could be prescription for Immigration Reform defeat. With 25 Million Americans out of work, Pres. Obama and Congress need to do something popular next.
The immigration issue could still muck up Obamacare. And the liberal Congressional Hispanic Caucus might end up supporting bars to illegal aliens from federal health care.
The virulently open-border Congressional Hispanic Caucus appears poised to vote FOR health care verification requirements that they vehemently oppose. And that is both a great irony of this protracted debate and a sign that grassroots activists for sensible immigration policies can take at least some satisfaction for all of their efforts this past year to make sure that whatever happens on health care, there won't be big extra incentives for breaking immigration laws.
The open-borders lobby is wailing about Pres. Obama's health care compromise, and that seems like it should be good news on the immigration front. . . .
I seem to have struck some nerves among the open-borders crowd with my reminder to Tea Party activists around the country that our immigration policies drive a lot of the increases in the size of government. The open-borders folks are howling that I said immigration policies drive growth in welfare use. To say such a thing, is "immigrant bashing," according to Frank Sharry in the massively read HuffingtonPost.com.
Sen. Jeff Session, who also serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has offered an amendment that would tighten up some of the loopholes in the Senate health care reform bill (H.R.3590). If passed, the amendment provides more specific requirements during the citizenship verification process.
The Senate health reform bill is better than the House-passed bill, in terms of verification of immigrant or citizenship status. But the Senate bill contains a number of serious loopholes by which illegal aliens can and will obtain taxpayer-funded health coverage. This will provide a net bonus to at least a portion of illegal aliens and may well serve as yet another incentive to break U.S. immigration laws.
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) is urging the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss to offer his identity and verification language as an amendment to the health care reform bill. House leadership prevented Rep. Deal from offering the amendment in the House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expects the Congressional Budget Office's score of his version of health care reform today, which should kick off the Senate's debate of the legislation. The inclusion of strong verification language remains a hot topic.
Many House Republicans are angry at their party's leadership for failing to force Democrats to vote on immigration verification amendments during the weekend's passage of the health care reform bill. Both sides of the aisle were prepping for a procedural move by the Republicans to force a vote, but in the end, the GOP chose tort reform over immigration.
NumbersUSA's Director of Government Relations joined seven Members of Congress on the East Lawn of the Capitol on Nov. 6, urging for a stronger verification mechanism in the health care reform bill.
Transcript of Rosemary Jenks' statement...
Seven House Members held a press conference earlier today on the East Lawn of the Capitol Building showing their support for stronger verification in the health care reform bill. NumbersUSA's Director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks also spoke with the House Members.
NumbersUSA is mobilizing our 920,000 members to contact their Representatives to urge defeat of the Rule to bring H.R. 3962 to the House floor.
NumbersUSA takes no position on the non-immigration parts of the bill. But Speaker Pelosi and the Rules Committee have broken the promises that Pres. Obama made that illegal aliens would be excluded from any part of a new federal health care plan.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the new health care reform bill (H.R.3962) in the House revealed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week covers 2.5 million more illegal aliens than the House's original proposal (H.R.3200).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) unveiled the final version of the House's health care reform bill this morning, and according to a document prepared by the three House committees that marked up the bill, the final version may include a citizenship verification clause. Floor debate on the bill is expected to begin next week.
NumbersUSA founder and CEO Roy Beck explains what it means to include verification in any health care reform bill and why NumbersUSA got involved in the issue.
The Senate Finance Committee is considering amendments to Committee Chairman Max Baucus' health care reform proposal, and they defeated an immigration-related amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Jon Kyl. The amendments would have required applicants for Medicaid or tax subsidies to show a government-issued photo ID. They were both defeated along party lines.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) refused to allow consideration of an amendment offered by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) that would have added a citizenship verification requirement to the House version of health care reform.
(Developing Story) -- Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) is expected to offer an amendment in committee today that would add verification to the House version of the health care reform bill. The Energy and Commerce Committee is considering additional amendments to H.R.3200 that will be combined with the previously approved version of the bill by the Rules Committee.
We here at NumbersUSA have been a little surprised at a lot of negative response from our members after we declared a little victory last week on barring illegal aliens from a federal health plan. The fact that we also offered a fax thanking Pres. Obama for bowing to popular wishes on the issue also seemed to cause a lot of people to think we are dangerously naive. Can we talk a bit about this . . . .
After the public controversy that ensued after Pres. Obama's health care speech to a joint session of Congress, the White House sent around an email to reporters clarifying the administration's stance on health care benefits to illegal aliens. Although, the administration supports a verification mechanism to ensure no illegal alien receives benefits, the issue could be irrelevant with an amnesty.
A recent survey conducted by the American Council for Immigration reform reveals that 78 percent of Americans believe that high immigration numbers have had a negative impact on the cost and quality of the nation's health care system.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus' health care markup included language that would require citizenship verification before individuals could gain access to the health care exchange and use federally funded affordability credits. But Ranking Member Chuck Grassley is not convinced that the proposal does enough.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released his proposal for health care reform, which includes language for citizenship verification that would attempt to prevent illegal aliens from receiving affordability credits under the bill.
The White House clarified President Obama's statement from his health care reform speech on Wednesday night when he stated that illegal aliens would not be covered under his plan. The White House said it supports verification of citizenship before individuals can take advantage of provisions in the health care reform bill.
Just in time for the national health care debate, we've posted another of a series of videos of experts. This video focuses on the costs of our immigration policies -- particularly the accessibility illegal aliens have to public education and emergency room medical care as well as the strain on an array of other social services. Please view the 12-minute video or the 4-minute summary video. . . .
Oh, sure, they say it isn't true. But every indication says it is. Consider: Asked by Katie Couric if "illegal immigrants" should be covered under the emerging national health plan, Pres. Obama said "NO." But then he started giving exceptions that would cover about 98% of current illegal aliens. House leaders are playing the same game. Take a look . . .
A key Democratic Senator in the health care overhaul says illegal aliens can't be covered under whatever emerges. Open-borders advocates are howling. Here's the big question for national Democratic leaders: If they recognize that national health insurance for illegal aliens is too expensive, can they see that an amnesty essentially locks in the cost by qualifying 12-20 million illegal aliens for the health care -- plus millions of their relatives who will follow?
