The Immigrant Health Care Bill

[peejay 327]

November 30, 2009

The Immigrant Health Care Bill

Bob Dane/Communications Director

Federation for America Immigration Reform

Patient says, "Doctor, whenever I drink coffee, I have a stabbing pain in my eye."

Doctor says, "Lady, take out the spoon before you drink."

Identifying obvious problems and dispensing common sense solutions is never the first instinct of Washington lawmakers. Our current health care reform debate - 2074 pages long - is no exception. Lost in detail, and guided by special interests, lawmakers have either forgotten or deliberately avoided asking a fundamental question that most Americans want answered: "why are there so many uninsured and who are they?" (continued in full entry)

Immigration is a major factor but this is an ignorable truth for those who want only to treat the symptom. More than one third of the uninsured in the U.S. are immigrants (legal and illegal). That same population constitutes almost half of the uninsured in California and 40% in Texas. This should be no surprise. The March 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS) reveals that 23% of the 21 million non-citizens in the U.S. were below the 100% threshold of the federal poverty level.

President Obama and key congressional leaders claim their health care bill will decrease costs and increase accessibility for 36 million uninsured in America. That remains inconclusive but what is incontrovertible - and terribly inconvenient to include in the sales pitch - is that a staggering portion of immigrants will benefit from a nationalized health care plan. It is not hard, then, to conclude that the health care reform bill is really a massive bailout for years of irresponsible immigration policy as much as it is a bill to improve health care. Truth in labeling would dictate that the Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) would be more accurately described as the Immigrant Health Care Bill.

Lack of sensible controls led to the mortgage and banking crisis and subsequent bailouts; similarly, the crushing national debt has now arisen from years of poor choices about whom and how many we've been admitting into the U.S. For decades, the government has not only been turning a blind eye to illegal immigration, importing millions of guest workers, but has also been fast stamping the green cards of ever increasing numbers of the world's least skilled, least educated and most heavily government dependent. The bulk of America's legal immigrants are admitted simply because they have a relative here, not because they offer substantive skills or self reliance, common sense criteria to which most industrialized countries adhere. Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education. The result has been the establishment of a permanent underclass of ill-equipped low-wage workers who pad the pockets of business but who ultimately consume more than they contribute and require public subsidies to survive.

Yes, we're all getting our lawn mowed, but the one trillion dollar health care reform bill - one third of which will subsidize indigent immigrants - doesn't really make cheap labor sound like much of a bargain anymore, not that it ever was. The gain has always been privatized and the cost socialized.

Of course, to blame legal immigrants is to miss the point. They're simply acting rationally, capitalizing on an immigration system that favors employers who profit from cheap immigrant labor. Rather, the blame rests with politicians who ignored the needs of the American worker-taxpayer and instead pandered to a constituency of cheap labor, powerful ethno-centric special interests, and Democratic party leaders wanting to increase the electorate of the needy to create instant voters. The result has been a flood of cheap foreign competition into the job markets, uninsured patients burdening hospitals, limited English proficiency students lowering educational standards in public schools and criminal aliens crowding jails.

But perhaps more prudent policies are right around the corner! After all, the same politicians whose immigration policy malfeasance created the mess are now asking America to pick up the tab for the Immigrant Health Care Bill. Surely they must be committed to avoiding the mistakes of the past.

Not even close.

At the same time this Congress is plotting how to beg, borrow and steal from the American taxpayer to subsidize immigrant health care it is simultaneously preparing the stage for a massive amnesty bill. Its impact will only perpetuate the endless cycle of chaos and exacerbate a sociological triage for resources. Special interest influences have such a stranglehold on our immigration system that not even teetering of the edge of financial meltdown appears to dissuade lawmakers from continuing self-destructive behavior.

Lowering levels of immigration and sensibly managing skilled based flows are the solutions. American workers at the lower end of the economic ladder would have less competition for jobs and see their wages rise while new immigrants would use their skills to sustain their own needs. With an unemployment rate of 10.2%, fierce competition for jobs, a continuing mortgage crisis and no end in sight to further government spending and entitlement mentality, we could all use some breathing room.

In the short run, Americans must demand that the final Senate version of the health care bill rectify immigration related problems in the House bill. Meaningful verification, closing Exchange access to illegal aliens, and maintaining the longstanding 5 year waiting period for federal benefits for most legal immigrants must be part of the package.

But the broader problems will remain and grow worse in the absence of true immigration reform that emphasizes enforcement and a reduction of the numbers. And an amnesty bill is simply out the question. The Immigrant Health Care Bill, if passed, must be a reminder that our current immigration system must vitalize our economy, not burden it.

As Thoreau said, it takes two to speak the truth - one to speak, the other to hear.

Is there any one listening?

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

[rika60607 215]

...Poorly written and just begs for argument each and every way.

I only want to know where this came from:

Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

I am tempted to start a poll on VJ, to show that more than 31% of legal immigrants have at least high school education (not including children in the stats, as they will finish their education in the US).

But of course, then you'll say that VJ crowd is special

Edited December 2, 2009 by rika60607

[peejay 327]

...Poorly written and just begs for argument each and every way.

I only want to know where this came from:

Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

I am tempted to start a poll on VJ, to show that more than 31% of legal immigrants have at least high school education (not including children in the stats, as they will finish their education in the US).

But of course, then you'll say that VJ crowd is special

It's from a nationally recognized immigration reform organization often interviewed and quoted by the mainstream media. If you have proof they are lying...here is your chance to refute it. I doubt that a poll of VJers would be credible proof to back up your claims.

[*Robert* 2]

...Poorly written and just begs for argument each and every way.

I only want to know where this came from:

Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

I am tempted to start a poll on VJ, to show that more than 31% of legal immigrants have at least high school education (not including children in the stats, as they will finish their education in the US).

But of course, then you'll say that VJ crowd is special

It's from a nationally recognized immigration reform organization often interviewed and quoted by the mainstream media. If you have proof they are lying...here is your chance to refute it. I doubt that a poll of VJers would be credible proof to back up your claims.

I think that a credible poll on VJ would proabably back up the numbers quoted in the article! I find those numbers very believable.

[rika60607 215]

You are welcome for keeping your thread alive, brother!

I made no claims, except that it is poorly written , but that is more of an opinion anyway.

...and I thought you wouldn't find VJ poll credible. I was right

[rika60607 215]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=231027

Voila!

[웃 910]

...Poorly written and just begs for argument each and every way.

I only want to know where this came from:

Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

I am tempted to start a poll on VJ, to show that more than 31% of legal immigrants have at least high school education (not including children in the stats, as they will finish their education in the US).

But of course, then you'll say that VJ crowd is special

I wonder how the numbers would change if you included 20 or so million illegals

[rika60607 215]

Numbers would change significantly, of course...

I wonder how the numbers would change if you included 20 or so million illegals

[Ban Hammer 13,482]

...Poorly written and just begs for argument each and every way.

I only want to know where this came from:

Sixty-nine percent of legal immigrants come to the U.S with no reported profession, occupation or job, and on average, a 9th grade education.

http://www.steinreport.com/archives/013002.html

I am tempted to start a poll on VJ, to show that more than 31% of legal immigrants have at least high school education (not including children in the stats, as they will finish their education in the US).

But of course, then you'll say that VJ crowd is special

It's from a nationally recognized immigration reform organization often interviewed and quoted by the mainstream media. If you have proof they are lying...here is your chance to refute it. I doubt that a poll of VJers would be credible proof to back up your claims.

I think that a credible poll on VJ would proabably back up the numbers quoted in the article! I find those numbers very believable.

ditto - but i doubt that all that could give a credible poll would vote.

Edited December 2, 2009 by charles!

[rika60607 215]

Then please vote!

Of course apart from sheer numbers to make the poll credible, I'd have to ask for proofs and go after people instead of people volunteering their choices... BTW, Peejay, is this your "did not complete high school" vote there?

ditto - but i doubt that all that could give a credible poll would vote.

[milimelo 4,541]

But the 50,000 DV Lottery winners per year have to have at a minimum a high school diploma (some of them have even M.A. or Ph.D. degrees) - a requirement in filling application is that you have a minimum completion of 12 grades.

And I have to disagree with the percentage on non-reported education level for legal immigrants - aren't we all asked on G-325a and other forms on the education level? That has to be reported somewhere.

Edited December 2, 2009 by milimelo

[rika60607 215]

Per Wikipedia, "In 2006, the number of (legal) immigrants (to the US) totaled 37.5 million."

50K lottery winners, sadly are but a drop in the bucket.

But the 50,000 DV Lottery winners per year have to have at a minimum a high school diploma (some of them have even M.A. or Ph.D. degrees) - a requirement in filling application is that you have a minimum completion of 12 grades.

And I have to disagree with the percentage on non-reported education level for legal immigrants - aren't we all asked on G-325a and other forms on the education level? That has to be reported somewhere.

[Ban Hammer 13,482]

Then please vote!

Of course apart from sheer numbers to make the poll credible, I'd have to ask for proofs and go after people instead of people volunteering their choices... BTW, Peejay, is this your "did not complete high school" vote there?

ditto - but i doubt that all that could give a credible poll would vote.

why would i vote? i'm not the beneficiary.

[rika60607 215]

You *could* vote for Nessa...

There is no requirement that the voter must be the beneficiary. I am sure some beneficiaries don't know what VJ is... especially the ones who did not complete high school. I didn't want to skew the poll by such restriction...

why would i vote? i'm not the beneficiary.

[rebeccajo 14]

It's from a nationally recognized immigration reform organization often interviewed and quoted by the mainstream media.

Um.

No.

The Stein Report is a project of FAIR.

http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile...igration_Reform

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has two major goals: (1) "to end illegal immigration," and (2) "to set legal immigration at the lowest feasible levels consistent with the demographic, economic, social, and environmental realities."................

FAIR was created following a factional split in Zero Population Growth led by John Tanton. Along with Sidney Swensrud and Sharon Barnes, Tanton founded FAIR in 1979. FAIR's links to other local and national organizations that are stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, and supremacist have undermined FAIR's own credibility and led to questions about the underlying agenda of its restrictionist approach to immigration. Referring to FAIR and associated groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center concluded an article on immigrant hate groups stating: "Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Americans believe that immigration needs to be cut below current levels, although that does not imply that they support the ideas of white supremacists or other bigots.. The danger is not that immigration levels are debated by Americans, but that the debate is controlled by bigots and extremists whose views are anathema to the ideals on which this country was founded."...............

The Wall Street Journal describes FAIR's agenda as having "less to do with immigration per se and more to do with environmental extremism and population-growth concerns influenced by the discredited claims of the 19th-century British economist Thomas Malthus."