The president calls it a myth:
Today, I want to spend a few minutes debunking some of the more outrageous myths circulating on the internet, on cable TV, and repeated at some town halls across this country.
Let’s start with the false claim that illegal immigrants will get health insurance under reform. That’s not true. Illegal immigrants would not be covered. That idea has never even been on the table.
However, the Congressional Research Service, which analyzes legislation on behalf of members of Congress, says it’s true. Specifically, the bill does bar illegal immigrants from collecting the subsidy, but it provides no enforcement mechanism:
Some have expressed concerns that since H.R. 3200 does not contain a mechanism to verify immigration status, the prohibitions on certain noncitizens (e.g, nonimmigrants and unauthorized aliens) receiving the credits may not be enforced. However, others note that under §142(a)(3) of the bill, it is the responsibility of the Health Choices Commissioner (Commissioner) to administer the “individual affordability credits under subtitle C of title II, including determination of eligibility for such credits.” Thus, it appears, absent of a provision in the bill specifying the verification procedure, that the Commissioner would be responsible for determining a mechanism to verify the eligibility of noncitizens for the credits.
In fact, as David Freddoso points out, Democrats blocked efforts to add an enforcement mechanism to the bill, which makes their intent pretty clear.
ASIDE: This is no surprise. Some in Congress feel so strongly about benefits for illegal immigrants that the Democrats falsified a floor vote in the House of Representatives to ensure that illegal immigrants could receive food stamps.
Also, Mark Tapscott observes that the CRS report also finds that illegal immigrants would be able to participate in the insurance exchange:
H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens–whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently–participating in the Exchange.
As regular readers know, I am fairly ambivalent on the issue of illegal immigration, so I don’t see this as an outrage the way some do. What I do see as an outrage (albeit an expected one) is the president labelling this as a myth, when it’s actually true.
(Via Hot Air.)
POSTSCRIPT: Interestingly, there’s not a thing about this on the White House “reality check” page about this. Is that a tacit acknowledgement?
Internet Scofflaw 