Posted on 10/02/2026 6:56:58 AM PDT by Twotone
Thousands of noncitizens are losing eligibility Thursday for federally funded Medicaid thanks to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which was passed by Republicans and opposed by Democrats.
It’s difficult to understand why the federal government admitted so many people who needed American taxpayers to support them in the first place. But what’s not difficult is understanding why Democrats unanimously opposed this legislation — and why it matters for the midterms.
The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act tightened eligibility requirements for Medicaid coverage. Medicaid is a taxpayer-funded health care program that should be for helping poor and disabled Americans. Instead, the policy has been used to pay for health care for hundreds of thousands of foreigners (yes, noncitizens).
Under the new eligibility requirements, refugees and asylees who do not have green cards will no longer be eligible for Medicaid covered by federal tax dollars, though states can individually choose to provide the coverage themselves. (Lawful permanent residents, minors, Cuban and Haitian migrants, and those covered by the Compacts of Free Association are eligible should they meet the other requirements).
According to KFF Health News, Florida “identified nearly 177,000 immigrants who would no longer qualify for the state’s Medicaid program starting in October,” Arizona “predicts nearly 28,000 could lose eligibility,” New Jersey “expects 15,000 to 25,000 of its noncitizen residents to lose their Medicaid coverage,” while North Carolina and Washington estimate the ineligibility of 29,000 and 11,000, respectively. (Notably, these noncitizens can still qualify for medical care under Emergency Medicaid, which is an entirely separate issue.)
The program has allowed foreigners to come here and force taxpayers to pay for their health issues while many Americans themselves struggle with rising health care costs. Take for example one refugee identified by KFF Health News as Ahin, who came to the U.S. in 2024.
“I came here to live a better life,” Ahin said. But “soon after arriving in the U.S., she developed severe abdominal pain that required intestinal surgery. Those costs, along with ongoing visits to specialists, were covered by Medicaid.”
The costs, however, were actually “covered” by Americans. Medicaid “has also been vital to her mother, who has asthma,” KFF Health News reported.
In other words, two foreigners came to this country and began milking a system that should be solely for the benefit of citizens. Also of note is that neither one of these women seemingly broke the law in order to get American-funded healthcare. They were ostensibly here “legally,” which only exposes yet another problem with immigration — getting into our country suddenly entitles you to a host of benefits.
Republicans used their congressional majority to fix eligibility requirements so that Americans wouldn’t be expected to bear the burden of taking care of every Third World foreigner who lands on our soil. Democrats opposed the legislation that included these eligibility fixes. And what’s clear is that these much needed restrictions only became law because Republicans had the votes to pass them. Had Democrats controlled Congress, Americans would still be expected to foot these bills, which is why this policy change matters far beyond Medicaid.
Voters heading into the midterm elections should be asking themselves who Democrats will put first if given power again because right now, it seems Democrats’ first priority is foreigners.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal promised in January that “As soon as we get the gavels back, we have to dismantle DHS, ICE and CBP.”
Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said just last month that admitting “a thoughtful number of refugees” is our “international obligation” and that we, as a nation, “must restart refugee resettlement to a respectable and honorable level.” Their statement came in response to the Trump administration saying it would limit the refugee cap to roughly 17,500 refugees from South Africa in the next fiscal year.
While the trio didn’t explicitly state what a “respectable and honorable level” constitutes, perhaps the Biden administration’s policy of welcoming more than 100,000 refugees for fiscal year 2024 is the new Democrat standard.
In other words, Democrats are foreigner first, Americans last. They care little about the effects of mass legal and illegal migration and have gone so far as to suggest that upon taking power, they will do what they can to prioritize foreigners — even though Americans voted for Trump, who ran overwhelmingly on mass deportations and cracking down on all immigration. This is why the midterms matter so much.
Gas prices are insanely high. They suck. There’s no sugarcoating that the Iran War has strained Americans financially at the pump. But gas prices can — and do — change. Not to mention that Democrats, for all their talk about caring about lowering them, have a poor track record of success in doing so. Just look at California, a Democrat-run state with the highest gas prices in the country thanks to Democrat policies. Democrats may run on affordability and lowering gas prices, but that doesn’t mean they will actually do it.
What they will do, what they’ve guaranteed, is open the border. Flooding the country with Third World foreigners and forcing Americans to foot the bill for all of it. Democrats’ opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill — which will help save Americans from footing the bill for foreigners — proves that they are not going to be putting America first if they win this November.
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I almost posted this this morning. But I’m so tired of the doomers. Glad you posted it. Thanks!
Thousands of noncitizens are losing eligibility.
Sweet system in working order at last.
No, it isn't. It's because illegals vote and they vote for Democrats.
Imagine the cost of healthcare if we simply shut the welfare system down. Best way to end the fraud and corruption, too.
One step at a time. As George Bush, of whom I’m no huge fan, would say, “stay the course.”
“Under the new eligibility requirements, refugees and asylees who do not have green cards will no longer be eligible for Medicaid covered by federal tax dollars, though states can individually choose to provide the coverage”
We’re being invaded anyway.✖️
Wake up folks
* That’s step 1
* 2. Step two national State ban.
* 3. Step # 3 (should have been #1), Federal ban of foreign companies taking over our infrastructure industries, Japan-energy, energy, India -steel(Iowa), South Korea - energy
Notice #3 foreign invasion is never brought up.
So, by how much has this action reduced the budget deficit? What percent?
EXACTLY!
More than zero. Take it as a win.
Will the Congresscritters redirect the savings somewhere else? I hope not. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a win.
OK, good, taxpayers won’t be paying illegal aliens medical bills.
Is Congress going to pass a law shielding hospitals and doctors from lawsuits or criminal indictments for refusing treatment?
I didn’t think so. The scope and amount of unpaid services hospitals and doctors are required to provide by law keeps increasing.
Wake me when this is over.
Medicaid for illegal and even legal immigrants is insane
The word got out that if you had a chronic disease you could come to the US and get free healthcare courtesy of the US taxpayers
I voted for this!
To make this work, the law (or court ruling?) that requires hospitals, etc., to treat all comers will have to be eliminated. If illegals show up, run up huge bills, and can’t pay them, hospitals will eat the cost and either pass it on to the rest of us, go broke and close, or get huge taxpayer bailouts.
If we aren’t going to change this requirement, my preferred solution is to force the countries the illegals came from to pay 100% of their citizens medical expenses in the US. Also, for education, trials and incarceration, etc. Maybe the source countries would keep their people home if they bore the cost of exporting them.
“Medicaid is a taxpayer-funded health care program that should be for helping poor and disabled Americans.”
They answer their own questions. But they aren’t fully venting.
“Residents of the U.S., INCLUDING CITIZENS AND PERMANENT RESIDENTS, are eligible for premium-free Medicare Part A if they have worked at least 40 quarters (10 years) in jobs where they or their spouses paid Medicare payroll taxes and are at least 65 years old.”
By it’s definition in the medicare site, not everyone who is on our soil can say they are permanent. A permanent resident is a non-citizen who holds legal authorization to live and work in the United States indefinitely. This status is proven by a Permanent Resident Card, which people commonly call a Green Card.
“Having a Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card) allows you to live and work permanently in the United States.
https://www.uscis.gov/green-card
So if you don’t have an approved green card, they can be copied and used illegally, then you shouldn’t receive the option to medicare to begin with. Making the changes to the SOP already in place, just opens the door to the obvious working to compromise and bend the rules to accomodate the situation. As already written could have handled the issue with ease and cut back on red tape and compromising the program.
wy69
Hospitals legally have to provide care. If they don’t get paid they could go bankrupt, pass costs on to citizens or get govt bailout.
There are loads of reasons to vote. But, many of the chaff will not get off their fat arses to vote ‘cause one politico or another did/said something that offends them. Lazy conservatives are just as bad as wokies in that respect — they look for excuses to do nothing and still feel like they are fighting for freedom.
Frogs inna pot coming to a boil. Too damned stupid to move.
The doomers and the trolls infiltrate way too many threads here on FR. I just wonder who is paid to do this and who is volunteering their time to sow doubt and discouragement.
This isn’t a complete fix. Millions of illegals have over the years since Reagan qualified for and been granted green card status which is like being Teflon-coated in this country now. If you have one of those cards you have carte blanche to commit crimes. Law enforcement just leaves you alone. You are not targeted for anything. Plus this bill does not affect them at all, they get every benefit known to man.
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