Blog - Joe Wilson Voted to Provide Taxpayer Money for Illegal Immigrants' Healthcare 
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Joe Wilson Voted to Provide Taxpayer Money for Illegal Immigrants' Healthcare
September 11, 2009 - by Donny Shaw
On Wednesday night, Rep. Joe Wilson [R, SC-2], shouted “You lie!” at President Obama when he said that the healthcare bill would not cover illegal immigrants. “The supporters of the government takeover of healthcare and liberals who want to give healthcare to illegals are using my opposition as an excuse to distract from the critical questions being raised about this poorly conceived plan,” Wilson said the next day in a campaign fundraising video.
However, in 2003, Wilson voted to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants’ healthcare. The vote came on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011 authorizing $250,000 annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants. The program has been extended through 2009 and there is currently a bipartisan bill in Congress to make it permanent.
Hospitals have a legal obligation to treat everyone who comes in seeking care, regardless of citizenship status, insurance or other characteristics. This means that hospitals treat millions of people every year who don’t have the means to pay. Obviously, this drives up the nation’s healthcare costs overall. Section 1011 helps cushion the costs for hospitals, but it’s not nearly enough to cover the actual costs in most areas.
To be fair, Section 1011 is just a small part of a much larger bill that contained many Republican priorities. Still, Wilson’s protest against the current healthcare reform proposal giving coverage to illegal immigrants (which is false), is in direct contradiction to his 2003 vote. Allowing illegal immigrants to purchase unsubsidized healthcare through the Exchange that would be set up under the current proposal wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent, and it would be a step towards fixing the problem that Section 1011 was designed to throw federal money at.
Here are a few more links on Wilson and the healthcare reform bill:
- Wilson’s OpenCongress profile
- Wilson’s OpenCongress Wiki page
- The House healthcare bill
- The line in the bill blocking subsidies for illegal immigrants
- The healthcare bill’s tax increases
- 5 major lies about the healthcare bill debunked
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Comments
Displaying 61-90 of 303 total comments.
If the reform plan uses Social Security numbers, which is likely as that is how Medicare and Medicaid are provided, then verification would not be necessary by hospital personnel. It is the understanding that this would be how the coverage was provided.
What is this obssesion with “Illegal Aliens”? The proposed bill is CLEAR … no service for them. Even if they are white … ohhh yea … that includes white folks who are here illegally.
Why is it every time a child is diagnosed with cancer in my community, we have to have a yard sale, bake sale, benefit carnival or party so that we can help to pay the medical bills their top quality insurance won’t cover? Is this the health care system you want? Well it’s the health care system we have right now.
Health care program needs to be well thought out not shoved down our throats. Post Office is broke, Medicare is broke and we are going to add another one on top at the cost of 900 billion. Our hospitals are laying off employees left and right and they are going to help pay for the plan. BO tells us that the plan will be paid for up front. The country is improving 9.7 % unemployment? Please give me one good reason we should believe these people. Oh yes Pork is at its highest level and Nancy has a new Plane. Time for a change vote them all out, to bad we have to wait 3 years for a new president. Carter is lucky his presidency will not go down as the worst in recent history. Make Wilson the new president.
Health care program needs to be well thought out not shoved down our throats. Post Office is broke, Medicare is broke and we are going to add another one on top at the cost of 900 billion. Believe it or not, denial is not a river in Egypt. One of the reason our Social Security system is bust is that G.W. Bush raided it repeatedly an wiped out all of the funds. If you had been following the news, 38 historians voted G.W bush as the 4th worst resident of all times. It was Bush who allowed investment and security laws to be done away with, which caused our economy to crash (last year). This is what has caused such high unemployment.
I am so embarassed to be an American when I see comments, such as the one from this blogger, that are so stupidy conceived, and have absolutely no validity to them.
Wrong!!! 61 percent of historians rate George W. as the worst in history.
http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html Carter isn’t even on the worst 10 list. But Nixon is.
Your reference to Sec. 246 is a LIE! Then you liberal communists call people “CONS”. You and the libs on here don’t have a clue and you are spreading the lies about this bill. H.R. 3200: Sec 246 states that illegal aliens will NOT be eligible for the “affordability voucher” that Obama has talked about for low income people. H.R. 3200 Sec 205 will cover illegal Aliens! REREAD THE WHOLE SEC FOOLS:
“© NON-TRADITIONAL MEDICAID ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘non-traditional Medicaid eligible individual’’ means a Medicaid eligible individual who is not a traditional Medicaid eligible individual.”
THINK, THEN KILL THIS BILL!
ALSO FROM SECTION 205 “(f) EFFECTIVE CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY
APPROPRIATE COMMUNICATION.—In carrying out this section, the Commissioner shall establish effective methods for communicating in plain language and a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.”
Anyone that is NOT “traditional medicaid eligible” by the state is AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED in the FED program. If no proof of documentation can be provided to the state qualifying them for medicaid the federal program will cover them! Also if they don’t speak English the taxpayers will pay for a translator! THINK, THE KILL THIS BILL!
Anyone that is NOT “traditional medicaid eligible” by the state is AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED in the FED program. If no proof of documentation can be provided to the state qualifying them for medicaid the federal program will cover them! Also if they don’t speak English the taxpayers will pay for a translator!
ALSO COVERING ILLEGAL ALIENS
“SEC. 152. PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE.
22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services.”
The democrats VOTED DOWN two bills submitted by the republicans that would have explicitly excluded illegal aliens from coverage. THINK, THEN KILL THIS BILL!!
i hope you die
Moron, citizenship is not among the “personal characteristics”. Citizenship is a public matter and a matter of public record.
Get a life.
To the person who said “I hope you die”. I’m sure that many people feel the same toward you. And without the Obama healthcare reform, you probably will. So so sad that there are people so arrogant and hateful in this world. I bet that this person says that they’re a “Good Christian” as well.
You know…It took me exactly 3 minutes after Obama opened his mouth to jump off my couch and yell…YOU LIAR….he opened his mouth at 11:17 and at 11:20 I was up and screaming. You wanna know why? I listen to the idot. REMEMBER..I don’t want to be in the BANKING business. Well hes taken over 2. Believe me, I have no intention of running the AUTO INDUSTRY. Well hes taken over 2. I want to look FORWARD not BACKWARD.
What happened to the CIA? I’ll save or create lots and lots of JOBS. He saved those jobs for the UNIONS. Where’s mine. HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE AND HE OWNS ALL THE INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT ARE LEFT.
To the individual who said “The democrats VOTED DOWN two bills submitted by the republicans that would have explicitly excluded illegal aliens from coverage. THINK, THEN KILL THIS BILL!!” Never happened. This is a lie.
What makes you think that the country can survive without reforming healthcare now? Just because there have been problems in the past due to poor leadership and policy making does not mean that this President can stop doing his job trying to keep the country afloat which is where we are right now! Would you prefer that he just do nothing and allow the country to go bankrupt? What kind of life do you think you would be living if the entire US were out of money and everyone was out of a job and there was no unemployment insurance? Be careful what you wish for because we are still not out of the woods and you could get your wish sooner rather than later…
except, in order to qualify for subsidized public option, a person would have to show proof that they make less than a certain annual income. Now just how does an illegal whip out tax filings or pay stubs????
There doesn’t need to be an ID verification. They would be paying for their own benefits via premiums if they chose to sign up, and the federal government is explicitly prohibited from subsidizing these. They would get no benefits w/o signing up. You don’t understand how it would work. Are you suggesting they be prevented from buying insurance so that they are forced to go to emergency rooms for overpriced care that hospitals have to provide, raising costs for all, instead of being allowed to pay for insurance and their own medical care?
What about all the other bills, sport?
Have you tried to sigh up for any government program with out a SSN? Or get service from any large corporation with out one?
You are so brainwashed…he didn’t wanna accept Strom Thurman’s biracial daughter—basically calling her a liar"…and now he has to deal with a biracial president…must drive him crazy.
But at least the President can’t take away his Confederate Flag. I’m surprised he’s not saying that in his commercial for donations for his campaign. “The President is trying to get my flag taken down.” “We can’t let that happen.” The donations will REALLY roll in then!
Actually, page 58 sets up verification procedures for enrollment and ID cards to show which plan you are using. Regardless, in order to sign up, you would have to commit fraud, and I’m sure whatever ID verification you put in there will be easily forged. The real problem to address would be the fact that we have so many people here illegally in the first place. That would require separate immigration legislation. Odd how none of these folks have proposed that rather than tacking something onto a bill they’re trying to defeat.
Where does that say that wouldn’t be able to take advantage of free healthcare under this plan. What it says is they would not benefit from health care TAX CREDITS… makes sense doesn’t it, since they don’t pay any taxes to start with. Would be kinda hard benefit from tax credits.
If there is a prohibition against providing care to illegal aliens how are they going to enforce that? By checking IDs of course. So why do some people insist that the bill specify checking IDs? Oh wait, I get it; the Republican Party has been abandoned by anyone with an IQ over 50 and they are intellectually unable to make that logical progression.
again, this is patently false. there is no provision in any health care reform bill that would allow illegal aliens to get gov’t funded health insurance.
Donnyshaw: The only difference is emergency care cost more.
Maybe you need to read Sect. 246 of H.R. 3200 again because it states there will be no benefits for illegal aliens.
Donnyshaw, you’re incorrect. I have HR 3200 as it was issued on July 14 and it is clear that those not legally present are not to benefit from the bill.
It is against the law to cover illegals with healthcare benefits and it is against the law in the new healthcare bill proposed by Obama! It is amazing that people do not understand plain English that has been written in to address this one fallacy that is spreading like wildfire! We do not give healthcare to illegals outside of the emergency room, okay?
The difference here is that Wilson’s vote provided federal tax dollars to pay for medical care for illegal immigrants. HR3200 would prohibit this, but would allow them to buy their own insurance with their own money, bringing down costs for all. So 1) he lied about the bill, and 2) he vited in favor of exactly what he’s complaining about. He’s wrong on both counts.
Donny, were you absent the day they taught critical thinking in school? The Congress voted to reimburse hospitals for what the Supreme Court mandated they provide. WOULD YOU RATHER THE HOSPITALS GO DOWN THE TUBES?
And, if Joe Wilson was incorrect, then why did the House vote two days later to exclude illegals from this Bill?
THAT MAKES YOU THE LIAR.
CLARIFICATION: I should have included that Friday’s vote was to use citizenship verification for determining legal status, and IN THAT WAY, illegals would be excluded.