Now picture being an illegal immigrant from another country coming to the United States for the first time. A better way of life would definitely be your ultimate goal. But everybody get sick at some point in their life. What would you do if your new country excluded you from its health care system? Scary situations for both legal Americans and illegal immigrants.

Through the years I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with people from all over the world. Some were students from other countries, others were here temporary, and then there were those unaware to my knowledge in the U.S. illegally. Never did I stop and think about one day how the influx of illegal immigration over flowing into the United States would spark a national crisis. How do we as a nation turn away people who may need medical attention even if they are an illegal immigrant? But on the other hand, it was their decision to come to the U.S. and surely they had to have had some knowledge about America where the language, laws, and culture is overwhelmingly different. from their own. This is a diverse country where we natives tend to get lost in the shuffle as well at times. But still the fact remains that the American people should not have to suffer the burden of the government’s mistakes of trying to solve the problem by passing the tab on to them.

The American health care system has always been the most expensive one in the world. Standing strong at an almost 17% total of all the U.S. gross domestic product. The Obama administration and Congress for the past year have failed to find a way to tailor a health care system that fits the average citizen and make fundamental sense. Many would think that one result from the new bill would be a sizeable reduction in costs, but instead it will increase it.

The bill will remarkably increase federal health care spending by about $185 billion dollars in 2019. The Congressional Budget Office reports that also by that time an increase in taxes around $100 billion dollars will ultimately force every one to buy some form of health care. Even the young and healthy, which should reduce costs. It also compels companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. This in turn should cut through all the unnecessary confusion that prevent a lot of people from having adequate health care insurance. Also it constructs a huge pool of health trading options that would permit health insurance policies to be sold across the nation creating a larger market and not just a hand few.

Now here is the flip side of the coin. There is an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Undocumented immigrants are increasing the percentage of people without health insurance. The Pen Hispanic Center reports that about 60% of the nation’s illegal immigrants are uninsured. This is in comparison to the 30% of legal immigrants and 15% of U.S. citizens. Illegal immigrants astoundingly epitomize 20% of the nation’s 47 million uninsured people period. This increase has risen about 35% since 1980.

State legislatures all over the nation are seeking to restrict the costs to tax payers off illegal immigration, including all health care services. In Oklahoma law makers have limited illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits. Other states are expected to follow Oklahoma’s policy as well. In fact Indiana has established a bill that would make all hospitals report how much they spend on illegal immigrants.

On the national seen, a small push was attempted to include legal immigrant children to the State Health Insurance Program, but was overwhelmingly blocked in our Senate. What was done instead, law makers added complicated language that they don’t even understand, to make certain all illegal immigrants were excluded.

Now illegal immigrants can receive emergency assistance through Medicaid, the federal state program for the poor and those with various disabilities, but they can’t get non-emergency care unless they pay out of pocket. They are also ineligible for all other public services as well. Statistics on health care cost are foggy because most hospitals and local community health centers have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy with the patient concerning their legal status. In 2004 a study done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, for the state of California concluded that the state’s annual cost for this matter was around $1.4 billion dollars. How ever, the same studies done in 2005 for Colorado and Minnesota show the estimate coming up between $17 million and $31 million dollars respectively.

A lot can be drawn from this big mess and we can be sure that it won’t go away quietly into the night. But all we can do now is wait around to the year 2014, which is when all this is supposed to hit the fan. I think until then, somebody need to try and come up with something much better. It has always been said that America is one big melting pot. But it seems like that all the flavored ingredients being put in lately, has proven to be just down right tasteless.

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Email Gregory Brooks: bgregory13@yahoo.com

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