There is no reason that legalized immigrants should not be required to have and pay for health insurance individually or through their employers. They should not be eligible for any type of subsidy, however.
First, let's be clear that I am referring to the 11 million or more lawbreakers who will have their status legalized with an amnesty. Legal immigrants with green cards are eligible for all federal benefits after 5 years. They are entitled to subsidies now under Obamacare. There are an estimated 15 million green card holders, many of whom will not elect citizenship.
So if the lawbreakers receive their provisional visas (RPI) you are saying that they should be required to have and pay for health insurance. What should the penalty be if they don't? What if they cannot afford to pay for health insurance? Or if they lose their job? I can tell you that this Administration will not deport them. More than likely, they will do as they have done previously, use our ERs as free health clinics.
And the 300,000 to 400,000 anchor babies born to illegal aliens annually are full citizens entitled to food stamps, Medicaid, welfare payments, etc. just like any other US citizen.
In 2010, 29 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) lacked health insurance, compared to 13.8 percent of natives and their children.
New immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for two-thirds of the increase in the uninsured since 2000.