How Should Healthcare Reform Handle Illegal Immigrants?
Proponents of healthcare for undocumented immigrants say that the fight on immigration can wait and that protecting everyone is the best and least expensive policy in the long run. Opponents argue that, compassion aside, U.S. taxpayers should not be on the hook for that care.
Edited by Steve St. Angelo
Yes
By Eric Rodriguez
Vice president, National Council of La Raza; heads Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation
The fight over legal and undocumented immigrant inclusion in a reformed healthcare system has been brewing for months but has recently intensified. Anti-immigrant politicians have called the president a "liar" over the question of whether or not his plan would give benefits to "illegal aliens." But rather than expose these politicians for fearmongering, honest health-reform negotiators have inadvertently...
No
By Daniel Stein
President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform
As the long and complex national debate about healthcare policy has unfolded, there is still a good deal of disagreement among Americans about many aspects of the bills that are making their way through Congress. On one matter, however, there is overwhelming consensus: Eighty percent of Americans are opposed to including illegal aliens under a taxpayer-subsidized national healthcare plan, according to a June 2009...
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