Nativists Hijack The Health Care Debate

Last week, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report on the treatment of non-citizens in the House health care bill that had anti-immigrant activists patting themselves on the back. “Case closed. Illegal aliens will be eligible to participate in the health care,” said Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a designated hate group. However, President Obama has repeatedly affirmed the contrary, and there’s specific language in both the House and Senate bills that explicitly excludes undocumented immigrants. In fact, the CRS report better illustrates how health care reform would hurt undocumented immigrants more than it helps them in the absence of any major reform of our immigration laws. But that hasn’t stopped nativists from “whip[ping] up fear and anger” about immigrants and health care reform and effectively convincing many Americans that Democrats are blatantly lying to them about immigrant health care coverage, while “winking and noddingat the supporters of illegal immigration.” As part of their tireless quest for any excuse to slam “Obamacare,” hardcore health care reform opponents have welcomed their deceptive antics with open arms.

RIGHT-WING LIES: FAIR’s messaging mirrors that of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and NumbersUSA — all three of which “stand at the nexus of the American nativist movement.”  The “nativist lobby” incessantly claims that there are “giant loopholes” in the health care bill. Their biggest qualm is that Democrats killed two Republican amendments that proposed harsh verification mechanisms to enforce sections of the House health care bill, which already explicitly exclude undocumented immigrants. This week, Mark Krikorian of CISaccused Democrats of blatant dishonesty shortly after writing that “supporters of Obamacare continue to deny” that “illegal aliens” will “receive taxpayer-funded subsidies.” Krikorian diverts attention from the fact that the majority of uninsured people are U.S. citizens when he makes flashy statements about the highnumber of uninsured immigrants (legal and undocumented) and their children to argue that the problem is immigration, not health care. Finally, right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin came up with her own paranoid theory that “Obamacare” would not only cover “illegal lawbreakers, border jumpers, visa overstayers, and deportation fugitives,” but is also a ”means to amnestizing the entire illegal alien population.”

NATIVISM GOES MAINSTREAM: It didn’t take long for right wingers who adamantly oppose health care reform to start invoking similar claims. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) declared, “Obamacare, is going to give every single one of those illegal aliens health insurance,” while Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) pointed out that “if you don’t like illegal immigration, then you’re not going to like this bill either.”Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) — who has repeatedly invoked “fear-mongering right-wing rhetoric” to block health care reform — claimed “a bill that is silent on eligibility means a bill that includes illegal immigrants.” Meanwhile, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) blasted health care reform in the same breath sheerroneously blamed Texas’ uninsured problem on undocumented immigrants.Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said that it’s perfectly “logical” for people to ask if health care reform will benefit “illegal immigrants,” despite the fact that the question is most often raised in a completely illogical — if not outright hateful — way. Meanwhile, CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight informed Americans that “people who break immigration laws” will be “rewarded” with free health care, and Fox News continues to validate the myth in its everyday broadcasts.

‘TEXT BOOK CASE OF A PHONY ISSUE’: Unsurprisingly, the nativist argument just doesn’t add up. To begin with, enforcement amendments were already defeated for good reasons. In the House, the Heller Amendment would have given private insurance providers unprecedented access to the sensitive income and identity information, and the Deal Amendment would have “narrowed the categories” of legal immigrants who would be eligible for benefits. Strict verification requirements have often backfired: For every $100 spent by taxpayers in six states to implement Medicaid’s stringent verification requirements, only 14 cents were saved. Nativists are also downplaying a key point made in the CRS report: §142(a)(3) of the bill stipulates that the Health Choices Commissioner will determine the eligibility of individual affordability credits that will involve establishing a verification mechanism. Policy experts have explained that a verification mechanism is best determined after the bill is passed so that the one chosen matches the underlying process for receiving benefits. The CRS report also suggests that – far from benefiting them — many undocumented immigrants will be forced by the bill to either purchase insurance at their own expense because their immigration status renders them ineligible for federal assistance or face serious penalties that will apply to all citizens and “resident aliens,” irrespective of their immigration status. With all that said, “fear doesn’t listen to facts,” and that’s why the nativists’ anti-health care argument has been called a “textbook case of a phony issue.” However, there’s nothing phony about the fact that uninsured Americans are dying, thousands of American retirees have moved to Mexico in search of better health care, and 12 million undocumented immigrants seek emergency medical care only as a measure of last resort. Lawmakers should put facts before fear in the health care debate and follow it up with an effort to turn hardworking undocumented immigrants into legal residents who pay into the system, instead of being punished by it.

ECONOMY — REPORT: YOUNG WORKERS STRUGGLING TO GET AHEAD: A newly released report by the AFL-CIO titled “Young Workers: A Lost Decade” finds that this group is “having more trouble than ever getting ahead financially” and overwhelmingly favors “increased public investment” the economy in order to help “working people a real chance to get ahead.” The survey’s findings on the work conditions young people face reveal some alarming numbers: 60 percent say they have to work on Labor Day, and only 55 percent feel “hopeful and confident” that they will be able to reach their financial goals within the next five years. Just 31 percent of respondents say they make enough money to “pay their bills and put some money aside,” which is a 22 percentage point drop from when the survey was last conducted in 1999. Fifty-eight percent of young workers say they received paid sick days, and 44 percent of low-income young workers do not have health insurance. Yet the report also finds that young workers overwhelmingly support progressive policies that will turn things around. Thetop three legislative priorities of those polled were job creation, establishing affordable health care for all, and improving public education. The AFL-CIO’s findings on the policy preferences of young workers mirror those found in a May Center for American Progress report titled “New Progressive America: The Millennial Generation,” which found that young people tend to hold progressive views across the board. The report found that 58 percent of millennials support marriage equality, 69 percent think the government should be doing more to solve problems, and 62 percent support the government enacting a single-payer universal health care system. Another CAP report by David Madland and Amanda Logan in October noted that although today’s young workforce is more diverse, this group actually shares “more similar attitudes about the economy than any previous generation of young people.”