President Obama asks for citizenship verification to be added to healthcare bill
During President Obama’s speech on healthcare reform last week he claimed that the healthcare reform bill would not provide illegal immigrants with free healthcare at taxpayer expense. This led to the now infamous Joe Wilson “you lie” outburst.
President Obama is right in one sense, the bill does not specifically grant illegal immigrants healthcare but there is no language in the bill that would prohibit giving them healthcare and there is no language in the bill that requires proving citizenship. So Joe Wilson was correct in another sense.
Republicans made two attempts to add language to the bill that would insure that no illegal aliens would receive free healthcare but both times Democrats refused to add it to the bill.
Now President Obama himself is asking for language to be added to the bill that would prevent free healthcare from being given to illegal immigrants.
The White House has sent out a memo with some bullet points that must be added to the healthcare reform bill to stop illegal immigrants from receiving healthcare:
- 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.
Joe Wilson brought to light on national television a loophole that was in the healthcare reform bill, the president’s hand was forced and now he has backed down and requested that this language be added to the bill to stop illegal aliens from receiving free healthcare. You may not approve of what Joe Wilson did, and it may have been a break in protocol and inappropriate, but it was something else also– effective.
This is an admission that while the bill did not specifically grant illegal healthcare it did not prohibit it either. The president deserves some credit for realizing that he was wrong on this issue and for correcting the problem. If the president manages to get this language inserted into the bill than this is one little victory in the healthcare reform debate and if it took Joe Wilson’s break of protocol to get this done than I stand by my original post on Joe Wilson and continue to support what he did.
America's Watchtower 
Whatever it takes to get this to pass, tell them ANYTHING, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain… 😈
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Undocumented immigrants would be able to buy insurance in the non-exchange private market, just as they do today.
That would indicate that they knew they were illegal. Waste and fraud, remember Barry.
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Joe told the truth and Obama has to be careful when and if he requires proof of citizenship for medical insurance—he could lose his, ha!!!
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HA! Good point!
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I’m not sure this is enough for me. After watching the two recent videos of ACORN’s outrageous behavior in helping a pimp and a prostitute work the system, what is to make us think that the “ex-lawyer” for ACORN won’t have some other legal loop hole for these people to slide through.
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It is not enough for me either but it is a good start. ACORN is finally starting to get the heavy scrutiny that they should have been getting all along. Hopefully this is just the start of the demise and prosecution of this criminal organization.
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Emergency rooms would still be obligated to treat illegals and so we need an amendment requiring them to notify INS. As soon as they are ambulatory, they should be deported WITH A BILL FOR SERVICES. Let their home country take care of them.
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Now that sounds like a plan!
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Treat Joe Wilson as you would have Barnie Frank doing the same to President Bush. There are many ways to make a point, but sending positive signals about screaming insults at the President of the United States creates a bad precedence.
When the Terrorists attacked our country, we all heard from Islamic leaders that Islam was a peaceful religion, but didn’t we all question why the same leaders didn’t stand up for the principle of peaceful disagreement. In their silence, we drew the conclusion that they sided with the bad guys. President Bush said, you are either with us, or against us.
If you really believe what Joe Wilson did was inappropriate, then stand up for principle and don’t make excuses. You can’t be on both sides.
Throwing stones and personal insults is a debate’s lowest fruit. This is not a democracy, it is a republic. We elect these men and women to represent our interests in the national debate, on same floor that Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan walked. It is not enough for a common man to carry our message to the capitol, these must be extraordinary men.
My country’s Capitol is not a place for a townhall meeting.
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