Health Care Reform Legislation Becomes Vehicle for Reshaping Immigrat...(se health care reform bill still contain...),Health

Date:11/4/2009

se health care reform bill still contain loopholes for fraud and abuse. While those claiming to be non-citizens will be checked through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, the verification mechanism recommended for those who claim to be citizens is a new, untested system that does not require supporting documentation. This is a massive loophole. FAIR urges Congress to instead mandate use of an existing verification model, approved by Congress in 2005, which requires that individuals claiming to be citizens first present citizenship documentation before receiving federal benefits such as Medicaid.

In addition to eligibility verification deficiencies, providing immediate access to federal health benefits for immigrants threatens to dismantle one of the original reforms of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA or Welfare Reform). The Act created a 5-year waiting period before new immigrants can access "Federal means-tested public benefits" and required that a person petitioning for an alien's admission must sign an affidavit promising financial support to the alien. In addition to reducing overall federal outlays, the policy was designed to protect American taxpayers by ensuring legal immigrants do not become public charges by immediately taking advantage of benefits upon their arrival in the United States.

The policy has been one of the very few sensible reforms made to an immigration system that is otherwise in chaos. Yet, both the House and Senate versions of the health care reform bill specify that taxpayer subsidies are not subject to the 5-year waiting period, thus allowing legal aliens to immediately access benefits at a cost to American taxpayers of at least $33.8 billion during the 2014-2019 budget period. Unless, this provision is removed, FAIR believes this will establish a dramatic and costly precedent to eliminate the 5-year waiting period for virtually every
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SOURCE FAIR Copyright©2009 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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