Finally, the country seems serious about reforming health care. But with discussions about a public option, cost control and competition raging, one aspect of achieving true universal coverage is being left out: what to do about immigrants who lack coverage?
All of the plans getting serious consideration in Congress would exclude undocumented immigrants. Many proposals would even bar access to community health centers and emergency rooms -- a historic shift from America's humanitarian tradition that in an emergency no one should be turned away. Some proposals would exclude legal resident immigrants who have been in the United States for less than five years. Unless the debate takes a different turn, millions of immigrants will be left out of the system.
We should not enshrine discriminatory principles into a new health care system. A "universal" health care program that leaves out millions of Americans is a fraud. Just as we stand up for other core principles in the health care debate -- quality, affordability, a strong public plan -- we need to stand up for immigrant coverage as an essential component of just and effective health care reform.
Without immigrant inclusion, people like Ockwhan Her, a 48 year-old Korean-American mother of two from Los Angeles, will continue being relegated to second class status. Ockwhan, uninsured, couldn't afford to visit the doctor when the pains in her stomach became too great to ignore. It wasn't until a personal emergency forced her to return to Korea that she was able to afford seeing a doctor, and learn that the pain in her stomach was cancer. Even though a legal permanent resident in the United States, our laws bar her from receiving health care benefits that could save her life.
It's worth reminding ourselves of why it's so important for immigrants to be included in our national health care system. Here are some common sense reasons:
There is no reasonable basis for excluding immigrants from access to health care. It's all about bigotry and fear, including the fears of our political leadership. Even many progressive members of Congress are reluctant to take a stand because they don't want to get in the way of health care "reform."
But until we include everyone, universal coverage will continue to be a myth, and tax payers like Ockwhan will continue to suffer needlessly.
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Oh, and the amendments about excluding recently naturalize
The fear that illegal immigrants are going to overwhelm our health care system is baseless. Illegals do not visit hospitals unless they absolutely have to, due to justified fears of being deported. I hope none of us is inhuman enough to maintain that we are going to turn away a human being in pain, with a broken leg, a high fever, etc. Does our self-image as Americans include turning away children simply because their parents don't have the right paperwork?
We need to look at models from other developed countries, such as the UK. There, anyone presenting with an emergency - tourist, illegal immigrant, whoever - is given basic medical treatment to at least stabilize their condition, without being charged. Sure, it's a little bit of a drain on the system, but what is the humane alternativ
It's a question of who we want to be.
They do have an option available to them that will give them this access to all the services of this country. It's called legal immigratio
As to the families of illegal immigrants just scraping by I can't help but say what everyone HAS to be thinking on that topic. If you were in your home country doing so badly you had to immigrate illegally to another one, and are doing so badly in this country that you're living on the edge of abject poverty with no benefits and no real job skills....
The example Mr. Bhargava offers is shows an important and oft unnoticed injustice in our health care laws: we deny lawful immigrants access to care for five years. The tragedy of this injustice is that studies repeatedly show that immigrants are often in greatest needs during their first few years as they adjust to life in their new home. In many cases, these immigrants will have found higher paying jobs - and often with employer-s
The commentato
As to those whose papers aren't in order, my view is that if someone is going to end up in the emergency room anyway, why not include them in the system: preventive care is cheaper, and by having more people pay in, the rest of us won't get stuck with the bill later.
It is already done. I've been in the US for 13 years, legal and all, and we were denied access to Medical Access in PA. We needed that help for our autistic son, since treatments for this condition can easily reach 100K a year. HC insurance companies routinely denied coverage for autism.
For the record, he was diagnosed way after we came here.
The stated reason why we were denied was that in the PA law, non permanent residents are automatica
Let me repeat that: we pay the same amount of taxes as anyone else, yet, we were denied access to a state program.
The inequities do not stop there: my daughter's college tuition is 2.5 TIMES of what parents of PA kids pay for State College education. (Penn State, no to name them) yet, we own a home in PA, we work in PA, and, at the risk of repeating myself again, WE PAY THE SAME AMOUNT OF TAXES IN PA (and Federal) like any other resident.
I challenge anyone to tell me this is anything else than discrimina
Yes it is somewhat unfair to get less benefits, but its also unfair that millions of Americans born here don't have coverage for medicine and the means to pursue higher education. If we were going to invest I would greatly prefer that native born Americans go to the front of that line, since they were given no choice but to be Americans, while you came over here by choice and could reasonably have pursued these benefits in your home country where you would be in the front of the line.
You also have not received citizenshi
Like it or not, these people are here illegally. The more steps that are taken to legitimize their actions, the less protection
If you want to call it discrimina
I mean, if we are going to stop prosecutin
Drugs
Smoking in public places (indoors)
Traffic laws
Robbery
Theft
There are a few more I could list, but I will refrain.
Yes, it sounds cold, but if we don't maintain the laws, we are nothing. We decry that politician
To call it discrimina
And like it or not, as the article points out, "If immigrants are excluded from coverage, they will continue to go to emergency rooms for medical services, services that we ultimately pay for through public programs or higher insurance premiums."
So you pay for it one way or another...
"In my view, the fight for universal and comprehens
Universal healthvare will end the discrimina
Visiting? Is that what we're calling it? Squatting is more like it. They aren't tourists or visitors in our country. If an intruders breaks into your home, will you call him a visitor? Will you be a good Samaritan and tell him where to find your wallet and your house safe? Will you cook him dinner and pour him something to drink while he's robbing you? And don't be naive. We ARE being ROBBED -- of jobs (they aren't all picking fruit, you know), of resources, of tax dollars.
We're not the world's welfare system. We can't even afford to take care of our own people.
If illegals get sick while they're squatting here, they can get help with their health care -- back in their home countries.
If you aren't getting paid by the RNC or Kaiser you should be. Its going to be hard enough to get a public option through. As it is we are already hearing that public healthcare is socialism, communism, and nazism. Including healthcare for illegal immigrants is just insane.
The fact that we feel we are above providing this basic service to the world's population
Dont try to make this about RNC and Kaiser. The fact that we are discussing those options and limiting teh scope of debate to weak public insurance company means the DNC is no stranger to the hehalth insurance coffers.