Posted by Bruce Bourgoine who blogs at
Kennebec Blues and Dirigo Blue.
Reduction of the health care debate into hot button issues like death panels, rationing, illegal immigrants, and abortion ignores rational exploration of some of these issues.
The knee-jerk reaction by the right wing to press hard on the hot button that law-breaking, society-wreaking, job-stealing, welfare-lusting illegal immigrants should not be covered by a reformed health care system is a clear example of irrationality. Yet the answer to this ranting from reform bill sponsors is that illegal immigrants will not be covered with little explanation. Is there mutual agreement on having a xenophobic exclusion policy without discussing the actual merits of covering this group of individuals?
Yes. This may be because covering illegal immigrants, while keeping the right wing in shriek mode, makes more sense than not but lies where rational fear to tread.
There is a moral issue at the core of the argument. We hire them; they are here for purely economic reasons at our economic invitation. When we commit the illegal act of hiring them to work on our farms, for cheap day labor at construction sites, or to clean our homes, we have a moral obligation to cover their health care when they lose fingers in farm machinery, fall off a ladder, or get chemically burned with a cleaning product.
Our self interest may well be another reason to consider. We should consider the ramifications of driving further underground a population segment, regardless of legal status, to possibly become more susceptible to infectious diseases or viruses and then have them untreated in our workplaces and homes.
If we believe the greatest threat to our legal unskilled workers is competition from illegal undocumented workers, we should avoid making illegal immigrant success in job competition more likely by making the difference in the cost of doing business with illegal immigrants versus legal unskilled workers even greater.
Keeping the ER doors swinging more often for illegal aliens versus the rest of is not cost effective in a system that would be striving for more preventive care and advance diagnosis and treatment of communicable diseases and will contribute to maximizing reform cost effectiveness.
Finally, excluding the many illegal aliens, regardless of political whims, who pay federal income taxes with fake social security numbers will in effect garnish funds for our health care by denying them health care. Should the IRS enforce an insurance mandate with a fine and we prohibit health care to that individual, we need to be comfortable with taxation without representation.