Health Care Passes, Immigrants Trying Not to Feel Ill

Last night, the House finally passed health reform; too bad the nativists insisted on increasing the costs of health care for everybody.

While the bill will extend coverage to 32 million currently uninsured persons (yay!) it includes a number of flaws (boo): no public option, insurance restrictions, and a decision to throw immigrants under the bus. The final bill denies undocumented immigrants the ability to purchase health insurance even with their own money, and bans documented immigrants from receiving Medicaid for five years. As the National Immigration Law Center puts it, "The battle for a truly equitable health care system for all is not over."

Unfortunately, all this means is that immigrants who are not insured will delay seeking medical attention until they get seriously sick, then go to the emergency room, their only option, for more expensive treatment. Barring immigrants from the insurance pool also raises the cost of premiums for everybody, a little number dubbed the "nativism tax," a.k.a. "shooting yourself in the foot to promote intolerance."

In the end, even Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), stalwart immigrant rights activist who introduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform ASAP bill, got on board with passing health reform. His support has lead to speculation that some kind of backroom deal had been cut with President Obama to make immigration reform the next priority. One can only hope that Obama will listen to either Gutierrez or the 200,000 people who rallied for immigration reform yesterday in Washington, D.C. We've had enough of his broken promises.

We needed health reform, and people want to be excited about it. But it's too bad nativism carried the day, raising the costs for everybody and sacrificing immigrants' health.

Photo credit: TheGiantVermin