House Dem: Key to fixing Obamacare mess is… immigration reform?

http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2013/11...ration-reform/



You just can’t make this stuff up:

Rep. Jared Polis said Friday the key problem with health care right now is that illegal immigrants aren’t included in Obamacare, and said part of the solution is to pass a bill granting them citizenship rights.

The House is debating a GOP-written bill that would allow Americans to keep their health plans that have been canceled under Obamacare, but Mr. Polis, a Colorado Democrat, said the chamber should instead be looking at ways to make sure everyone in the country is covered by the Affordable Care Act — including illegal immigrants.

“American citizens are essentially being forced to pay for the health care costs of people who are here illegally every day, until we pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “We’re wondering why rates are going up. … It’s no surprise. When somebody doesn’t have insurance, their costs are shifted onto other people that do.”

Illegal immigrants are one of the few categories of people in the U.S. who aren’t subjected to Obamacare’s individual mandate requiring all people to have health insurance coverage. They also aren’t eligible for taxpayer subsidies to buy insurance on the health exchanges, nor are they supposed to be getting assistance under Medicaid.

But Mr. Polis said leaving them outside of the health mandate means that they end up using emergency care, but don’t end up paying their own bills — leaving the rest of the country to pick up those costs.

He said the solution is to pass House Democrats’ bill, which would grant a long-term pathway to citizenship for most illegal immigrants. The legislation is known by its bill number, House Res. 15

“If we can pass HR, 15 people who are here illegally will have to get insurance on their own instead of forcing Americans to pay for their insurance,” Mr. Polis said.

End of year, politicians must be bored with massive amounts of vacation days and bonus pay...so they pass their time by spitting stuff like this for the sake of it.

How would this go anywhere? Repubes don't want to fix ObamaCare, they want it gone, repubes want immigrants gone, why would they welcome immigrants to allow them the chance to benefit from ObamaCare?

...smh...

It's actually sound economic logic; expanding Obamacare to us might cost taxpayers, but the choices aren't

1) Don't offer any healthcare to illegal aliens
2) Offer them obamacare

It's

1) Keep the current system where emergency care and other services are provided
2) Offer them Obamacare

The cost of (2) might be cheaper, since as a rule of thumb preventive healthcare is cheaper than paying to fix something when it's broken.

It's actually sound logic, but politics is mostly about emotion, not logic.

While undocs are not eligible for ACA, they are eligible for emergency care. This means they are reaping some benefit without directly paying for it, so others with insurance will eventually shoulder the cost.

We're still paying taxes. It's estimated that the community at large has a compliance rate of 50-75% on taxes. As a rule of thumb compliance rate increases as one stays longer. I suspect compliance is in the 90s% for the group of us who have been here more than a decade.

That's why I said the taxpayer instead of US citizens. Pft. It angers me when people seem to think we're not taxpayers. If that's the case the IRS better start writing me a fat check!

Undocumented immigrants should be allowed to purchase from the exchanges at affordable rates, but not be subsidied - subsidy= Medicaid=DSHS=Medical coupons=100% at taxpayer expense. I can completely see why Americans oppose it; we should have equal opportunity to purchase health plans fairly, but I'd never advocate for the rest of the American public to pay 100% of my health expenses, which is what the Medicaid expansion does.

I pay a lot of taxes - federal, SS, FICA, local, sales, etc, and still what people do not understand is that if you are low income and have a lot of deductions and several children, you will not pay federal taxes which makes the bulk of your taxpayer burden. That is why a lot of Americans, including a lot of Democrats oppose full subsidies without contribution.

On the other hand, single-payer, where everyone contributes, solves this problem right-off the bat. But Obama and the Dems sold out, and now are scrambling to fix this PR nightmare.