Illegal Aliens and Healthcare "Reform": Did The President... er... Fib?

Illegal aliens receive emergency health care now. Right? We're all agreed on that? It's currently the law and has long been the law that American hospital emergency rooms treat all comers. Right?

In addition to emergency room care, free medical clinics abound throughout our nation and are open to citizen and non-citizen alike.

Note: My point is not to sugarcoat or evade the underlying issue of the nature of the medical care - the limitations of the medical care - that illegal aliens receive in this country; rather, my point is simply to highlight the raw truth that emergency rooms of American hospitals are open to all and that for relatively minor yet persistent medical concerns illegal aliens have the same basic access to free clinics as our own citizen poor who for whatever reason chose to live outside the system - outside Medicaid in this case.

So... with this factual preface offered... allow me to turn to the issue of how HR 3200 applies to legal and illegal aliens - non-citizens:

According to the Congressional Research Service, reflecting the August 25, 2009 official CRS report of Alison Siskin, Specialist in Immigration Policy and Erika K. Lunder, Legislative Attorney, HR 3200 provides for the following:

1) ...under H.R. 3200, a “Health Insurance Exchange” would begin operation in 2013 and
would offer private plans alongside a public option. The Exchange would provide eligible
individuals and small businesses with access to insurers’ plans, including the public option, in a
comparable way. Individuals would only be eligible to enroll in an Exchange plan if they were
not enrolled in other acceptable coverage (for example, from an employer, Medicare and
generally Medicaid). H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens participating in the Exchange—whether the noncitizens are legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently.

2) In 2013, under H.R. 3200, some individuals would be eligible for premium credits (i.e., subsidies based on income) toward their required purchase of health insurance. To be eligible for the premium credits under H.R. 3200, individuals must be lawfully present in a state in the United States, excluding most nonimmigrants (i.e., those in the United States for a specific purpose and a specific period of time). The exceptions for nonimmigrants who could obtain premium credits under H.R. 3200 would be trafficking victims, crime victims, fiancées of U.S. citizens, and those who have had applications for legal permanent residence (LPR) status pending for three years. It is expected that almost all aliens in these excepted nonimmigrant categories will become LPRs (i.e., immigrants) and remain in the United States permanently.

3) H.R. 3200 as reported from the House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) would extend Medicaid eligibility up to 133 1/3% of poverty for populations that previously were not covered (e.g., childless adults and many parents). This extension of benefits could mean an increase in the number of noncitizens who already meet the immigration status requirements for Medicaid eligibility who would be eligible for Medicaid.

4) Emergency Medicaid may pay for the care of unauthorized aliens, nonimmigrants, and LPRs within the first five years of arrival (or longer if the state does not exercise the option to provide coverage for LPRs after the five years) for emergency conditions if they meet the other eligibility requirements of the Medicaid program. Specifically, aliens who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid except for their immigration status (e.g., unauthorized aliens, nonimmigrants) may receive “medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act ... for care and emergency services that are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition (as defined in Section 1903(v)(3) of such Act) of the alien involved and are not related to an organ transplant procedure.”

So... folks... you tell me - does it or does it not appear that when President Obama swears that the reforms he's proposing won't apply to those who are here illegally that he's... er... either showing his ignorance of the actual details of the legislation he's supporting, or... to avoid using the "L" word... perhaps deliberately... er... "fibbing" to the American People?

Either way - deliberate dishonesty or simply willful ignorance - President Obama's glib denial of reality when it comes to what illegal aliens will and will not be entitled to under the Democratic Party's major Congressional Health "reform" initiative is - to say the very least - disconcerting.