Illegals Will Receive Expanded Medicaid
By Jeni Horn
September 14, 2009
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. shouted "You Lie" after President Obama said "the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
Was Congressman Wilson correct about the coverage of illegal immigrants in HR 3200, the HealthCare Bill?
The mainstream media would have us to believe that what Wilson had to say is a complete Fiction. They have checked their facts.
In his annual State of the Union address to the Congress in 1862 Abraham Lincoln said:
"...In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be held responsible through time and in eternity..."
The need for responsibility is no less in this present Health Care debate than it was in 1862, so let's take a look at the facts the media never checked.
Title II, Subtitle C, Section 246 of the bill(HR 3200)- dealing solely with insurance subsidies - states:
SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.
Notice the use of verbal gymnastics. Under the provisions of HR 3200, illegal immigrants would not be allowed to receive federal subsidies with which to acquire health insurance from the proposed Health Insurance Exchange. This language does not say they cannot receive Medicaid.
Illegal immigrants are allowed - regardless of residency status - emergency medical care under Medicaid, and HR 3200 not only expands Medicaid eligibility but also restricts (via Section 1702) inquiries about immigration and residency status.
In Ohio, an illegal immigrant currently does not need a Social Security to get emergency medical care under Medicaid, but a legal resident does. Also, no one can turn them over to the authorities based on their status. In Ohio, Alien Medicaid is allowed through Ohio Administrative Code 5101:1-41-20 Medicaid: Alien Emergency Medical Assistance (AEMA) [url][http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/5101%3A1-41-20/[/url]
A regular Ohio Medicaid recipient gets a Medicaid card at the end of every month with their case number, a billing number, their name and date of birth on it. An illegal alien can get emergency medical care under Ohio Medicaid, but does not get a monthly Ohio Medicaid card. Notice the difference between the two groups. One group gets a monthly Medicaid card the alien doesn't. But groups' health care is paid for out of the same Medicaid funds.
Again this is verbal gymnastics. All of this is being paid through Medicaid--and Ohio taxpayers are paying the bill. This information is available to all illegal aliens in every 88 counties in Ohio and is posted in Job and Family Services, County Commissioners Offices, and Hospitals throughout the state of Ohio.
Coverage: AEMA covers all medically necessary services covered by Medicaid, including hospital, physicians, tests and medicine. AEMA covers services during the whole "emergency medical condition episode" and "stops on the day on which the absence of immediate medical condition could no longer be expected to result in placing the patient's health in serious jeopardy, serious impairment of bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part." Ohio Administrative Code 5101:1-41-20.
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