White House, Senate back Verification for Health Care Reform
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.
The White House issued the following bullet points:
- Undocumented immigrants would not be able to buy private insurance on the exchange. Those who are lawfully present in this country would be able to participate.
- Undocumented immigrants would be able to buy insurance in the non-exchange private market, just as they do today. That market will shrink as the exchange takes hold, but it will still exist and will be subject to reforms such as the bans on pre-existing conditions and caps.
- Verification will be required when purchasing health insurance on the exchange. One option is the SAVE program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) which states currently use to make sure that undocumented immigrants don't participate in safety-net programs for which they are ineligible.
- There would be no change in the law that requires emergency rooms to treat people who need emergency care, including undocumented immigrants. There is already a federal grant program that compensates states for emergency room costs associated with treatment of undocumented immigrants, a provision sponsored by a Republican lawmaker.
The White House acknowledged that illegal aliens would be able to receive emergency care, and that hospitals would be reimbursed through taxpayer funds.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) also expressed support for a verification mechanism following the President's speech on Wednesday. Sen. Baucus, and his bi-partisan committee, are currently drafting the health care reform legislation in the Senate.
In the House, two amendments offered by Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) that would require the use of verification before individuals could benefit from health care reform provisions were defeated during committee markups. Whether those amendments are reconsidered in the House is still unclear, but White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that verification requirements are "something we'd work out with Congress."