Today the House of Representatives debates healthcare reform. There is an urgent need to expand and improve medical coverage, yet the bills in the House and the Senate both fall short since they exclude millions.
From this column we have long warned Democratic lawmakers not to fall into the illegal immigration trap. Principles should not be abandoned by allowing the opposition to turn every bill that comes to a vote into a restrictive immigration policy against the undocumented. Unfortunately, this behavior is repeated again with the healthcare bill.
The Senate legislation prohibits undocumented immigrants from purchasing medical coverage out of their own pocket —something they can do today —from the future insurance exchange. Meanwhile, the House measure will require everyone —including the undocumented— to buy insurance, but people without papers will be excluded from subsidies or programs that will help cover the cost.
This makes little sense beyond the myopic, simplistic idea of punishing those who entered the country without permission. The argument that the undocumented use too many medical services has been proven unfounded in study after healthcare study.
At the same time, it is unfair to overlook the tax contributions these workers make to state and federal coffers as well as their active participation in the workforce. And, this doesn’t even get into the ludicracy of this approach in terms of sound health or economic policy.
Millions of undocumented immigrants who work hard and pay taxes have earned the right not to be viewed as pariahs. Unfortunately, the way they are being treated in the context of healthcare reform speaks volumes about the political times in which we live, marked by Democrats’ pragmatic lack of principles and Republicans’ opportunistic scapegoating.
