Republicans and Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are equally stumped as to how to go about tackling the issue of healthcare for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants that live illegally in the United States. Given that this is one of the biggest topics in the issue of immigration reform, the debate is likely to continue causing heated disagreements between the political parties.
On the one hand, Republicans are adamant that immigrants should not be given access to local and federal government health benefits, saying that they should be forced to buy their own health care plans. Given that those plans are often extremely costly, Democrats allege that it is unfair to force that responsibility onto those who may least be able to afford it.
“The 11 million shouldn’t be eligible for health care subsidies,” insists Republican Raul Labrador. “They shouldn’t be eligible for any subsidies at all. That was the agreement that they had even before I was a member of the group.”
The Los Angeles Times says that the House of Representatives is intending to make certain that immigrants are not included in the tax subsidies that assist US citizens with gaining health insurance. This rule is also highlighted in the immigration reform legislation created by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight,” although under that legislation immigrants would be eligible to take part in health exchanges. Nonetheless many Democrats feel that in the long run health costs would actually be lowered by making all citizens have healthcare plans.