[thecodont]

The uninsured rates for the native-born and foreign-born populations were statistically unchanged at 12.9 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively, in 2008. Among the foreign-born population, the uninsured rates for both naturalized citizens (18.0 percent) and noncitizens (44.7 percent) were statistically unchanged.

Look at the big discrepancy in insured vs. uninsured rates corresponding to citizens vs. noncitizens. The latter and larger group is likely the one that's being "paid under the table" to perform yard work, babysitting, food service, etc. The people I see hanging around the railroad tracks at Delaware and Third Streets in West Berkeley, hoping for some day labor work, are very likely not here legally, and are part of this very large uninsured group.

[kabar]

The Health care issue is really an immigration issue. We are importing poverty thru our legal immigration polices, which bring in 1.2 million LEGAL IMMIGRANTS A YEAR, most of whom are poor and uneducated.

Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989. 53% of immigrant headed families are on welfare. The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 17 percent, nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for natives and their children.

Milton Friedman said, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.”