How Do Illegal Immigrants Fare Under ObamaCare?
Not that bad. Senator Coburn’s office recently issued a policy paper titled Bad Medicine on the new federal health care law that’s worth reading cover to cover. Among the gems is a finding that immigrants in some ways get a better deal than U.S. citizens and legal residents under the new health reform law.
If you are a legal resident alien you will be required to obtain the same government mandated health coverage that U.S. citizens must obtain. However, if you have been here for less than five years, and if your income falls below 133% of the federal poverty level, you will not be allowed to enroll in Medicaid — as U.S. citizens will be required to do. Instead, you will be able to obtain highly subsidized insurance (paying a premium, say, of ten cents on the dollar) in a health insurance exchange. If, as we expect, Medicaid insurance is lower-quality insurance, you will have access to better insurance than a U.S. citizen with the same income!
If you are an undocumented immigrant you will not be subject to the individual insurance mandates and you will not be fined if you fail to purchase health insurance. Nor will you be allowed to enroll in Medicaid or buy insurance in the health insurance exchange.
However, hospital emergency rooms will not be able to deny you health care if you are in need. What makes this surprising is that the most common argument for an individual mandate is that the uninsured should have to contribute to their own health care instead of getting it for free in the emergency room. This is why U.S. citizens will be required to pay hefty fines if they do not obtain insurance. If you are here illegally, however, you get to escape that penalty.
I was surprised to read this post. But then again I wasn’t that surprised. Each new discovery in ObamaCare seems to bring yet another raft of unpleasant news.
Bottom line: looks like it might be better to be an immigrant instead of a citizen.
I have seen no discussion of this issue in the newspaper, on TV, on the talk shows or elsewhere. Why is everyone else ignoring it?
We’ll all be trying to move to Mexico now.
It is wise health care policy and humanly compassionate to treat all people who end up in our emergency rooms regardless of costs. It is, and always will be, the best way to identify a vector disease. H1N1 anybody?
You must be a US citizen to get on Medicaid. You neglected to mention that bit.
Steve
Steve is correct that only U.S. citizens and legal residents that have been in the U.S. five years qualify for Medicaid. However, illegal immigrants still qualify for emergency Medicaid services, which often pays for the birth of their children. Some county hospitals also provide prenatal care when they discover is cheaper to provide generous prenatal care for at-risk mothers than treat low birth weight babies in the neonatal ICU. The children born to undocumented workers while in the U.S., of course, qualify for Medicaid as citizens.
The fact that resident aliens do not qulify for Medicaid means they can enroll in a private plan in the health insurance exchange. This insurance is likely to be much better insurance than Medcaid offers. The US citizen, by contrast, will be forced to enroll in Medicaid if his income is below 133% of the poverty level. So the immmigrant is able to get a better deal than the citizen.
Devon, under this highly subsidized insurance plan which only the very poor qualify for, what do the reimbursement rates look like? Medicaid rates are so low already, will these be even lower? Or more comparable to Medicare (which is low as well)? Surely, a government run plan is not going to reimburse at the rates we are seeing from private insurers?
Marlynn, the way President Obama and the Democrats in Congress talk about it you would think that the subsidized insurance is going to be like a standard Blue Cross plan. And that is the assumption that I think the CBO made when they costed out the bill. But these assumptions may be wrong. In Massachusetts, subsidized insurance in the state’s health insurance exchange pays fees equal to Medicaid rates plus about 10%. This of course means that the plans are only a little bit better than Medicaid.
Nice post, thanks!
Learn the Language, serve time defending this country. Staying out of trouble, going to classes to learn about this great country. Go to work and live with the constutation and this countries laws. If they cannot take care of their children, stop having them. Very sinple.
Maybe I’m reading a different article then some people but it very clearly states you must be a legal resident to get healthcare or enroll in insurance.