On June 15, the National Council of La Raza, a powerful open borders advocacy group, issued a statement calling upon Congress to ensure that illegal aliens are given health benefits if and when Congress considers health care reform.
In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau calculated that at least 47 million people in the U.S. did not have health insurance. This figure includes persons who were uninsured at any point in the year, even if only for a few days. The calculation included 12.6 million foreign-born persons, 10.2 million of whom are not U.S. citizens.
The Pew Hispanic Center in 2005 estimated that 59 per cent of illegal aliens have no health insurance, while the RAND Corporation put the rate at 68 percent. FAIR conservatively estimates the illegal alien population in the U.S. at 13 million, meaning approximately 7.7 to 8.8 million illegal aliens in the U.S. lack health insurance. A study by the Center for Immigration Studies, using census data, calculated in 2007 that immigrants and their U.S.-born children accounted for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989.
The true impact of government subsidy of medical services for households headed by illegal aliens is even more disturbing, because the 47 million total uninsured figure includes two populations of US citizens, low-income Americans who already qualify for existing welfare-funded medical services, but have not used them, and higher-income Americans who can afford, but chose not use private insurance. These populations have been estimated at 6 and 10 million Americans respectively. But even that enormous number significantly under-estimates the impact of illegal immigration is having on America’s healthcare system, because it does not include children born in the U.S. to illegal alien parents, who are eligible for all public medical benefits.
This leaves an estimated 31 million inhabitants who cannot access medical insurance, of which 12.6 million --or a staggering 41 per cent-- are foreign born, while between 25 and 28 PER CENT ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS.
The logic of these numbers is powerful and inescapable: The true taxpayer cost of subsidizing medical insurance for the uninsured in America cannot be accurately estimated until there is a comprehensive plan put forward by either Congress or the Obama administration. Determining the true cost of such a plan depends on whether it covers uninsured Americans, or every “body” in America without health insurance.
Source: Federation for American Immigration Reform
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