Illegal Immigration and Medicaid

Receiving something for nothing seems to be the way our nation is progressing today with regards to all the handouts being given to those who are in danger of failing, out of work, poor, or here illegally. This will ultimately destroy our nation once those who provide the funds through taxation end their quest for the American Dream and raise their hands instead for the free handouts. Once done chaos will ensue and only the strong will survive.

Today's discussion focuses on how illegal immigrants will receive health care with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The recently enacted health reform law, in part, expands eligibility for the Medicaid program. Illegal aliens remain ineligible for Medicaid beyond emergency services. However, this could change if they are legalized. The costs associated with the new affordability credits for those with income above the Medicaid threshold are not included here, and would be in addition to the extra Medicaid costs.

Among the findings:

• It is estimated that 3.4 million uninsured illegal immigrants have incomes low enough (under 133 percent of poverty) to qualify for Medicaid under the expanded eligibility established by health reform.
• Based on the 1986 amnesty, we estimate that incomes for uninsured illegal aliens would rise modestly after legalization, leaving 3.1 million uninsured illegal immigrants qualified for Medicaid.
• The primary reason so many illegal immigrants have low incomes is that most have relatively few years of schooling, with more than half not having completed high school. Legalization would not change this fact.
• The estimated cost of providing Medicaid coverage to 3.1 million amnestied illegal immigrants would be $8.1 billion annually.
• It is estimated that taxpayer-provided health care for uninsured illegal immigrants costs $4.3 billion annually. About half of that goes to those with incomes below 133 percent of poverty.
• While the annual costs run into the billions, because of their relatively young age and generally good health, the average cost of Medicaid for illegal immigrants is about half of the average general cost of Medicaid per enrollee.
• During the budget period 2014-2019, in which Medicaid expansion takes effect, covering 3.1 million amnestied immigrants would conservatively cost taxpayers $48.6 billion.

The expansion of Medicaid under the new health reform law already adds significant costs to the system. The costs of providing Medicaid to legalized illegal immigrants would be substantial. Because illegal aliens are relatively young in age and in generally good health, the average cost of their Medicaid coverage is about half of the average cost of current Medicaid recipients, which includes the aged and disabled. Nonetheless, it is estimated that covering just 3.1 million uninsured illegal immigrants with the lowest incomes would cost $8.1 billion annually. This estimate does not include the extra costs of the illegal immigrants whose incomes would qualify them for the new affordability credits under health reform.

The following videos are from FoxNews, one with Bill O'Reilly and the other with Greta Van Susteren both discuss how the illegal immigrants will be impacted by the Affordable Care Act and what it means for us.