Posted on 05/18/2004 3:18:04 PM PDT by StoneColdGOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House rejected legislation that could have led to hospital emergency rooms denying some services to illegal aliens while helping to get them kicked out of the country.
Hispanic legislators led opposition to the bill, joining medical groups in contending that it would turn hospitals into law enforcement agencies and prevent illegal residents from seeking life-saving medical treatment.
It was defeated 331-88.
The legislation came to the House floor as a result of a promise that GOP leaders made to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., in exchange for his vote on the Medicare prescription drug bill that narrowly passed last November.
Rohrabacher was ready to vote against the Medicare bill because it contained $1 billion over four years to reimburse hospitals for treating illegal immigrants. The Orange County conservative was told he could offer legislation to counter the effects of that provision.
Rohrabacher's bill would have required hospitals receiving money under the provision to obtain information on the immigration status and employer of people seeking emergency treatment. That information would have been sent into a database set up jointly by the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services.
The Homeland Security Department would have been required to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal aliens.
In addition, employers of illegal aliens would have been responsible for the cost of unreimbursed emergency room care, and hospitals would not have had to provide care for an illegal alien who could safely be sent back to his or her own country for treatment.
Rohrabacher said health care for illegals has extended to heart bypasses, transplants and cancer treatment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those opposed to his bill, he said, "are voting to spend our limited health care money to make America the HMO of the world. And then they act surprised when even more tens of millions of illegals flood into our country."
But Hilda Solis, D-Calif., said the bill would turn hospitals into law enforcement and immigration agents, and would have lead to scenarios where women in labor would have to choose between going to a hospital and being deported. "What kind of fear does that place in a community?" she asked.
Rep. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the House's no. 3 Democrat, envisioned being asked to prove his citizenship in an emergency room because of his name. "That's shameful. You wouldn't ask any other citizen that," he said.
The Federation of American Hospitals, American Hospital Association and other medical groups wrote lawmakers urging opposition to the bill, saying it "would virtually ensure that illegal immigrants will avoid getting the appropriate and timely lifesaving health care they need, when they need it."
Rohrabacher said illegal aliens make up 43% of those without health insurance, and thus account for at least $9 billion of the $21 billion that hospitals reported in uncompensated health services last year. The office of Sen. Jon Kyl., R-Ariz., who was behind the $1 billion in the Medicare bill, put the annual cost of treating undocumented residents at about $1.45 billion.
Yeah, get that one past Bushamecha, Rove, and the open borders crowd... Good luck!
The federal constitutional responsibility is to protect the states from foreign invasion. Article I, Section, Clause 15, "To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions:"
Since the our federal government has mandated that all emergency room victims be treated at all hospitals and our federal congress has correctly fulfilled the 5th amendment requirement to compensate private property owners for their property taken for public use,(the Medicare bill... contained $1 billion over four years to reimburse hospitals for treating illegal immigrants), then we citizens should insist that the equivalent of TSA security personel be deployed in emergency rooms around the country to screen for illegal immigrants and thus remove the burden of acting like law enforecement officials by the hospitals.
Tell me about it! The only thing that saves my sanity re: this is that I adopted a good, conservative congressman and pretend that he's really my congressman. He's flattered, and I get to forget about Jerry the MOAB. ;)
Well then, he represents the response of the illegal immigrants :)
Illegal alien pregnant women could actually choose hospital care to avoid deportation? Huh? That was not the intent of Rohrabacher's proposal, so either Solis is stupid or the AP cannot write.
Rohrabacher was ready to vote against the Medicare bill because it contained $1 billion over four years to reimburse hospitals for treating illegal immigrants. The Orange County conservative was told he could offer legislation to counter the effects of that provision.
If they really wanted it, they should have found a way to attach the proposal as an amendment to the Medicare bill before passage.
Good save! ;)
At least that was his publically-stated price. We don't know what his private price was.
I believe that's only for things on the order of life- and limb-threatening emergencies. Back when I was in school, I used to work in an ER and the medical staff turned away people who belonged in a clinic, regardless of their citizenship status and insurance coverage. They do NOT have to accept people who come in to an ER for varicose veins, circumcisions, bunions, etc.
Just means it's time to kick out the POS politicians that voted NAY, DIMS,Repubs and INDs. I see as usual Americans mean nothing to these Idiots, lets see how they like having the true Americans in their districts pointing out to their constituents just how much they prefer Illegals over Americans.
Mr. Rohrabacher must be given credit, he knows that the only purpose of the vote was to document the treachery of those in elected office who find it necessary to coddle the illegal invaders. I have nothing but contempt for the 331 officeholders who are selling our sovereignity for nothing more than a warm political wind blowing from our southern border.
Yes. You're right. The "law" only requires that the ER perform triage. But the trial lawyers have seen to it that nobody is turned away - ever.
I don't think Bush or Rove voted on this bill. I'll have to check.
You link says 86 Republicans and two Democrats. :)
FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 182 (Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined) H R 3722 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 18-May-2004 12:24 PM QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass BILL TITLE: Undocumented Alien Emergency Medical Assistance Amendments Yeas Nays PRES NV Republican 86 133 8 Democratic 2 197 6 Independent 1 TOTALS 88 331 14 ---- YEAS 88 --- Aderholt Akin Bachus Barrett (SC) Bass Bereuter Bishop (UT) Blackburn Boozman Boucher Bradley (NH) Burton (IN) Buyer Carter Coble Collins Cox Culberson Cunningham Deal (GA) Doolittle Duncan Everett Feeney Franks (AZ) Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gibbons Gingrey Goode Goodlatte Gutknecht Hall Hayes Hayworth Hefley Hoekstra Hostettler Hulshof Hunter Isakson Jenkins Johnson, Sam Jones (NC) Keller Kelly King (IA) Kingston Kline Manzullo McCotter McCrery Mica Miller (FL) Miller, Gary Musgrave Myrick Norwood Otter Paul Pence Pitts Platts Radanovich Ramstad Rehberg Rogers (AL) Rohrabacher Royce Schrock Sensenbrenner Shimkus Shuster Simpson Smith (TX) Stearns Sullivan Tancredo Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Toomey Vitter Wamp Weldon (FL) Whitfield Wicker Wilson (SC)
Mexicans = Samaritans
Better hurry up and cross the road, Biblebelter, lest ye become unclean...
I live in one of THE most litigious states, and I saw clinic cases turned away from our ER.
If you don't mind me asking, what on earth has Neville Chamberlain got to do with all of this? As far as I'm aware his thoughts on healthcare weren't all that controversial- maybe I'm missing something?
I thought it was a young Nadler....
Scary!
Simple solution just post an INS agent at hospitals, the welfare office and DMV, and let them do their job...heck all they would have to do is park a marked vehicle out in front and watch the attendance drop..LOL...
Taxpayers gotta pay for everyone's everything. Come to the USA: the good life courtesy of the taxpayers!
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