Posted on 12/03/2012 4:56:10 PM PST by Libloather
Dems: Federal health programs should cover DREAMers
By Sam Baker - 12/03/12 02:53 PM ET
Federal healthcare programs should cover the children of illegal immigrants, a group of House Democrats says.
Democrats are asking the Obama administration to make healthcare available to children who are able to stay in the U.S. under the deferred-action immigration policy that President Obama announced earlier this year.
The policy — similar to the DREAM Act — allows many children of illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation, as long as they meet certain criteria.
A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), is now pressing the Obama administration to open federal healthcare programs to children who receive deferred action under Obama's plan.
The administration has said DREAMers are not eligible for Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program or the federal subsides provided under Obama's signature healthcare law.
The lawmakers said the administration squandered an opportunity to give DREAMers access to the same healthcare options as American citizens.
"We believe this rule-making process offered an opportunity for the Department to enable these young people — Americans in every respect except on paper — to access the same range of healthcare options as the citizens they hope to one day become," they wrote in a letter to Obama. "Instead, they will be barred even from purchasing coverage in these markets with their own money."
Obama's healthcare law creates new state-based insurance exchanges where people who don't get coverage through an employer can shop for a private insurance plan, usually with a subsidy from the federal government. No undocumented immigrants, including DREAMers, can receive insurance subsidies.
Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is now treated differently from other avenues for deferred action, the lawmakers said.
"There is no principled reason to treat differently young people who received deferred action through DACA and any other person who has received deferred action," they wrote. "The unfairness of singling out DACA beneficiaries is also clear when you consider that many of them will now be studying alongside students with non-immigrant visas who have not been excluded from the ACA."
Lee's office is circulating a "dear colleague" request asking her fellow lawmakers to sign on to the letter to Obama. So far, signatures include Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
Who didn’t see this coming? Really, the commie ‘RATS won’t have any say in it. The pedophiles in black robes have already made this “decision”. It will be “unconstitutional” to deny “free” healthcare to anyone on the planet once this goes into “court”. You can take that to the bank.
There is an old joke about a woman at a party being asked, “Would you have sexual intercourse if offered a million dollars?” She agreed. When asked, “How about for two dollars?”, she became angry and said, “What do you think I am: a whore?”
At this point it was apparent she was, indeed, a whore and they were just dickering over her price.
This situation with the Obama Administration reminds me of that old joke. Because we’ve already established that many people in this nation have no moral principles, and what we’re seeing is the sliding scale for purchasing votes.
They get all the first aid they can handle but they gotta' go to where it's offered.
Stupid Democrats will probably complain it's too far to walk and they'll probably die of thirst ~ so offer to fly them there ~ one way!
This was precisely the issue which caused Rep Joe Wilson to shout out: “You Lie!” in a congressional session.
If this passes it proves Joe was right!
This country is BROKE. Go home.
Go to hell, Baker.
Paging Joe Wilson!!!!! Obama YOU LIE!!!!
What this has to do with the parenthetical words “anchor babies” added to the headline, I don’t see.
An anchor baby is one born on the soil of the United States even though its parents are foreigners, and that baby is considered a U.S. citizen, is it not? Even if we disagree with that policy, is it not a U.S. citizen?
But “Dreamers” are not citizens and not anchor babies, but rather are young children who were brought across the border by adult family members. They are children of aliens who crossed the border illegally WITH THEM IN TOW, therefore their status is in perpetual limbo.
Please correct me if you can show otherwise...
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