Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« The Day the World Was Invented | Bogus Viaduct Study »

Friday, November 3, 2006

Bush Admin: No Medicaid Coverage for Undocumented Immigrant Children

posted by on November 3 at 12:33 PM

A new, alarming policy from the Bush administration states that “children born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes will no longer be automatically entitled to health insurance through Medicaid.” Let’s read that again, slowly. And with the Constitution in mind.

Children born in the United States to illegal immigrants with low incomes will no longer be automatically entitled to health insurance through Medicaid.”

Until today, undocumented immigrants were denied Medicaid, but could receive health care treatment in the case of an emergency, most typically childbirth. When children are born to low-income parents in hospitals on US soil, they immediately qualify for one year of Medicaid coverage. Now, since infants’ parents won’t be able to give birth in a hospital (unless they can afford to pay the medical tab out of pocket), parents must file an application for Medicaid coverage for the child, providing proof of citizenship. Obtaining a birth certificate for a child can take weeks and even if the parents do get one, they have to apply for Medicaid coverage at a state welfare office. How many undocumented immigrants are going to feel comfortable walking into a government office and basically announcing they’re here illegally?

This is inept and destructive policy on several accounts.

1. It in effect denies a certain group of U.S. citizens (those born to undocumented immigrant parents) rights granted to all other U.S. citizens. Children of undocumented immigrants are now, in all legality, second-class citizens: the Constitution grants them full citizenship, but they are denied the full rights and benefits of citizenship from the moment they are born until, at minimum, the several weeks it takes to get a birth certificate.

2. Immigrant women won’t stop getting pregnant and their babies won’t stop getting born just because the Medicaid coverage stops. They just won’t be able to afford to get hospital care, meaning more women will give birth without sanitary conditions and the help of trained doctors. More dead babies. More dead mothers. Again, the Republican administration cares more about what happens to fetuses (or clumps of cells hypothetically resulting in a fetus) than actual children.

3. It forces doctors and nurses to act as inhuman rationalists who must turn away women and infants in need of care if they can’t fill out the proper paperwork. Doctors should not be put in the moral bind of either denying mothers and infants possibly life-saving treatment or helping them at their own legal and financial risk.

4. It also forces doctors to act as defacto immigration police. When a pregnant woman rolls into a hospital about to give birth, the hospital admin will have to decide whether or not her documents are valid. If they treat her and her Social Security number turns out to be false, the hospital will have lost money. Immigration officials who check documents have special training and lots of experience — hospitals are going to have to decide on-the-spot whether or not questionable patients are legit citizens and several factors are likely to sway their judgement. Immigrant activists are afraid this hasty, uninformed process will lead to racial profiling.

5. Undocumented immigrants pay for Medicaid. When anti-immigrant groups rant and rave about the immigrant drain on Medicaid and hospital costs, they forget the inconvenient fact that undocumented immigrants who receive paychecks pay all the same taxes as legal citizens. Because most of them are using fradulent Social Security numbers, they pay into the system but they don’t get to collect. That’s right, they pay for Medicaid, but don’t get to use it. Hospitals take a serious financial hit when they choose to treat immigrants who lack documents, but that’s only because the government refuses to make up the difference even though it receives undocumented immigrant tax dollars.

Our economy is strong because of undocumented workers. We’re able to eat cheap food and wear cheap clothes because they’re willing to accept too-little money working in shitty conditions. The least we can do is not victimize their innocent, legal-citizen children and grant them the basic human decency of emergency medical care.

RSS icon Comments

1

Link no worky.

This is frightening, I seriously don't see any hospital turning away a woman in labor from recieving care though. What are they gonna do? Have her deliver it in the lobby?

Posted by ky | November 3, 2006 12:39 PM
2

On second though... maybe this is where republicans support abortion comes in, but only for the children of illegals and only in the 9th through 21st months since conception.

Posted by ky | November 3, 2006 12:41 PM
3

The empirical evidence seems to conclude that there is no more "basic human decency" in this country. I guess we ran out.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 12:43 PM
4

So, considering equal rights and due process and the 14th and 15th amendments, I really don't see how this could fly, given the point made that the newborns are citizens, pure and simple.

Further, a rational-basis of saving the government money seems to be overruled by the government's life interest (that is, healthcare keeps babies alive overrides not spending money on citizens because of who their parents are).

Any legal minds want to opine on this? I don't see how it could stand up to review.

Posted by juris | November 3, 2006 12:46 PM
5

There is absolutely no legal way this is gonna fly. Discrimination based on race, national origin, family status... no way, no way.

Unless one of those Bush-appointed judges is on the bench...

Posted by giantladysquirrels | November 3, 2006 12:51 PM
6

Anyone surprised? If I hear one more conservative talk about sanctity of life, fiscal responsibility, and support of the war in Iraq; I think I will just snap...

Posted by Mike in MO | November 3, 2006 12:52 PM
7

Apparently the Bush plan to prevent Mexicans from coming to the US is to make the US more regressive and backward than Mexico. Give us 50 more years of Bush, and there'll be an illegal-immigrant problem going the other way.

Do not that these children being denied care are full US citizens, whatever the status of their parents.

Posted by Fnarf | November 3, 2006 12:52 PM
8

I'm not so fond of the Democratic strategy of "voting as conservatively as possible." Let's not forget that Democrats have been nearly as rabidly anti-immigrant as Republicans.

Posted by JF | November 3, 2006 1:05 PM
9

Our failure to protect the rights of our fellow citizens doesn't end at childbirth, either. There's a new class action lawsuit filed by some of these American children to halt the deportation of their parents. Read about it here:

http://www.indypressny.org/article.php3?ArticleID=2963

Posted by tam | November 3, 2006 1:28 PM
10

First off, this whole "won't give birth in hospitals" bit is rubbish becasue it is illegal for a hospital to deny emergency care. Hospitals already lose money on these things every day and no law like this will change it, unless they stop requiring hospitals to admit anyone in their emergency rooms.
So that baby argument is rubbish! Come up with one that actually makes sense and stop acting like reactionaries.
Jesus Christ, even as a card-carrying democrat, there's nothing worse than a self-righteous liberal.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 1:38 PM
11

Andrew: you're using "reactionaries" incorrectly.

Posted by Mike in MO | November 3, 2006 1:55 PM
12

Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act
Look up EMTALA and then delete this post because it is obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 1:58 PM
13

Andrew: So you're saying the Hospitals will be stuck between following the law (helping everyone) and following the law (refusing immigrants)... and you don't think this will lead to any problems for immigrants once the government starts cracking down on "activist hospitals?"

I think you're "everything will be fine, stop giving so much of a shit" attitude is very typical of the Democratic party.

Posted by JF | November 3, 2006 2:02 PM
14

I picked that word on purpose because 1) this post is a "knee-jerk" reaction (literally reactionary), not based on anything in reality, 2) because this post was written with some sort of opposition to change and return to a "previous condition" (the common definition of reactionary). I choose the word on purpose knowing what it means.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 2:02 PM
15

I picked that word on purpose because 1) this post is a "knee-jerk" reaction (literally reactionary), not based on anything in reality, 2) because this post was written with some sort of opposition to change and return to a "previous condition" (the common definition of reactionary). I choose the word on purpose knowing what it means.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 2:03 PM
16

I picked that word on purpose because 1) this post is a "knee-jerk" reaction (literally reactionary), not based on anything in reality, 2) because this post was written with some sort of opposition to change and return to a "previous condition" (the common definition of reactionary). I choose the word on purpose knowing what it means.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 2:03 PM
17

Hey Andrew,
You're absolutely right -- thankfully, the gov't does require hospitals to treat patients regardless of ability to pay or citizenship status in emergency situations. Childbirth qualifies as an emergency situation, but the woman and kid will have had no access to any sort of care right up until the baby's popping out. No prenatal care means a much higher risk of death for both mother and child.


Regardless of the fact that the hospital is required to pick up the tab for emergency care, policies like this have the effect of dissuading undocumented immigrants from using hospitals at all. Knowing that they'll be asked to provide proof of citizenship will be enough to keep some pregnant women from checking in when the time comes. That means more unsafe births.


And after the kid is born, it will be denied health care until (and if) the parents can obtain a birth certificate. They'll have no access to health care for non-emergency problems and with babies, what seems to be small coughs and colds can turn out to be major maladies. Obviously there's no hard data on this yet, but I think we're going to see a lot more immigrant infants dying tragic and preventable deaths.


No preventive care in general for undocumented workers also creates a higher price tag for their health care overall, since only are treated in the case of a crisis, running up expensive costs in the emergency room.


And there are some issues, Andrew -- such as denying basic medical care to INFANT CHILDREN -- that it's completely okay to get self-righteous about.

Posted by s.mirk | November 3, 2006 2:56 PM
18

Again, I would like to point out that there is another Andrew posting on this board and he is not me. I do disagree with his comments.

Andrew II: Please find another moniker.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 3:04 PM
19

Sorry, I am being a little trolly trying to stir up trouble because I am bored at work and it's Friday. But some of what I say stands, in particular that emergency room service is essentially free and thus the last line in the post is patently false.
I want to know, cracker-ass Andrew, what do you disagree with in what I said?
If you can articlate it I won't use Andrew anymore. Otherwise, how about you pick a different handle? I've been using this one for quite a while and I like it.

Posted by Andrew | November 3, 2006 3:38 PM
20

Andrew II:

Emergency room care is essentially free? Yeah right-someone needs to pay for it. Yes, it is true that hospitals don't turn anyone away for inability to pay. EMTALA requires this. However, that cost is passed along to all of us in the form of higher health care costs, for one.

I am a social worker at a hospital, so I see firsthand the effects of the Federal government's crackdown on Medicaid benefits. We see more and more people every day that would have been covered in the past, but no longer are.

The problem is not inpatient stays in hospitals. It is outpatient care. After baby is born, and he or she doesn't qualify for Medicaid, how is the baby going to see a pediatrician? We have every reason to be concerned. Do a little more research before you post.

Posted by Black Sheep | November 4, 2006 2:33 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).