{"id":2439,"date":"2009-08-29T16:53:27","date_gmt":"2009-08-29T20:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=2439"},"modified":"2009-08-30T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2009-08-30T15:03:08","slug":"fair-house-health-reform-bill-will-allow-illegal-aliens-to-receive-taxpayer-funded-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/29\/fair-house-health-reform-bill-will-allow-illegal-aliens-to-receive-taxpayer-funded-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"FAIR: House Health Reform Bill Will Allow Illegal Aliens to Receive Taxpayer-Funded Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

FAIR<\/em><\/p>\n

House Health Reform Bill Will Allow Illegal Aliens to Receive Taxpayer-Funded Health Care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Critics of America\u2019s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (AAHCA), the health care reform bill currently working its way through the House of Representatives, have suggested the bill will provide taxpayer-funded health care to illegal aliens. Supporters of the bill maintain that Section 246 will prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits under the bill. Section 246 states that \u201c[n]othing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.\u201d1 As discussed in this memorandum, Section 246 will not prevent illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer-funded health care benefits under the bill.<\/p>\n

(1) Illegal Aliens Eligible for Public Plan. Section 246 applies only to \u201caffordability credit\u201d access, but does not
\napply to anyone attempting to enroll in the public health insurance plan created by Section 221. Affordability
\ncredits can be used to offset the cost of health care coverage for individuals who enroll in private insurance plans,
\nbut there is currently no provision barring illegal aliens from enrolling in the taxpayer-funded public plan. An
\namendment offered by Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) at the Ways & Means Committee markup would have required
\nthat enrollees in the public plan, or those seeking affordability credits, must verify eligibility with the Income
\nEligibility Verification System (IEVS) and the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
\nThat amendment was rejected by the committee on a party-line vote. As currently written, the bill would allow
\nillegal aliens to freely enroll in the public plan.
\n(2) Section 246 Lacks Verification Requirements. Over the years, Congress has required various methods to
\nensure that only eligible individuals receive federal public benefits. The most effective of these methods involves
\nthe requirement that an agency or employer confirm eligibility with a verification database. Examples of effective
\ndatabases to verify eligibility include the SAVE system, which confirms an individual is a citizen or qualified
\nalien (as defined by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, more
\ncommonly known as the \u201cWelfare Reform Act of 1996\u201d)2 and is therefore eligible for certain benefits; the IEVS,
\nwhich confirms income eligibility for purposes of certain means-tested benefits like Temporary Assistance to
\nNeedy Families (TANF); or the E-Verify system, which confirms an individual is work-authorized in the United
\nStates. A lesser method to screen for benefit eligibility would be to require applicants to self-attest eligibility,
\nsubject to penalties of perjury, on a benefit enrollment form. This method is unreliable because it depends solely
\non the honesty of applicants and also fails to actually determine an applicant\u2019s eligibility. The health care reform
\nbill does not require the use of any verification database to determine eligibility for affordability credits.
\nLikewise, this bill does not require any screening or self-attestation by applicants to determine eligibility for
\naffordability credits. Instead, Section 246 bars illegal aliens from receiving affordability credits but contains no
\nenforcement method to ensure compliance so as to preclude ineligible individuals from receiving that benefit.
\nWhere enforcement is lacking, we can expect compliance to be similarly lacking. Accordingly, Section 246 will
\ndo nothing to actually preclude benefits from being improperly provided to illegal aliens.
\n(3) Government Studies Confirm: Bar on Benefits without Verification is Ineffective. Government research
\nconfirms that a statute that limits the availability of government benefits is meaningless unless it is also coupled
\nwith a vigorous method of ensuring eligibility in order to eliminate fraud and abuse. For example, the
\nGovernment Accountability Office (GAO) and other independent research have concluded that illegal aliens have
\nbeen a significant factor in the rise of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) disbursements despite the fact that illegal
\n1 Section 246 (starting on page 143, line 3) available here.
\n2 The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Pub. L.. No. 104-193 (1996).
\n2
\naliens are technically ineligible for the tax benefits.3 Likewise, the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
\nreported in May 2008 that illegal aliens receive significant federal benefits, notwithstanding numerous federal
\nlaws designed to prevent this form of fraud.4 CRS cited studies from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Labor,
\nHealth and Human Services, and a private organization to support the contention that a statutory bar alone will not
\nprevent illegal aliens from accessing government benefits.5 Accordingly, it is highly unlikely that Section 246
\nwill operate to effectively prevent illegal aliens from receiving affordability credits provided for in the bill.
\n(4) Does Loophole Extend Health Coverage to Illegal Aliens Via Dependents? Section 246 may also be
\nrendered ineffective by virtue of Section 242(a)(2). 242(a)(2) states \u201cmembers of the same family\u2026 shall be
\ntreated as a single affordable credit individual eligible.\u201d6 This raises the question of whether a family of illegal
\naliens can qualify for the affordability credit because they have a single family member who is eligible. For
\nexample, could an illegal alien woman receive the credit for herself simply by giving birth to a child in the United
\nStates? If so, this exception would negate the general rule barring illegal aliens from receiving the credit and
\nwould impose a significant cost burden on the American taxpayers.
\n(5) Recent Congressional Enactment to Limit Benefits for Illegal Aliens. In recent years, Congress has
\nenacted various provisions to effectively preclude illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits. For
\nexample, the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 contained a number of reforms to ensure that only \u201cqualified aliens\u201d
\n(which excludes illegal aliens) would be eligible to receive \u201cfederal public benefits.\u201d More recently, as part of the
\nEconomic Stimulus Act of 2008, Congress precluded the issuance of stimulus rebate checks to illegal aliens by
\nlimiting rebates only to persons with valid Social Security numbers (SSNs) while prohibiting checks for
\nindividuals using individual tax identification numbers (ITINs) which can be used by illegal aliens.7 This
\nprovision was effective in preventing the issuance of stimulus checks to illegal aliens. Likewise, the American
\nRecovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included language to preclude illegal aliens from receiving the bill\u2019s
\n\u201cMaking Work Pay\u201d tax credit.8
\nConclusion. The health care reform bill lacks adequate safeguards to ensure that illegal aliens will not qualify for
\nthe taxpayer-subsidized public health plan or affordability credits. The best way to protect the American taxpayers
\nis to require that each individual who enrolls in the public plan or who applies for an affordability credit to first
\nverify their eligibility using the IEVS and SAVE databases. Government studies confirm that statutory bars, like
\nSection 246, are ineffective by themselves to protect taxpayers. Congress has enacted effective language to
\npreclude illegal aliens from receiving benefits in recent years. The same willingness to adopt verification
\nrequirements in the past is again necessary with respect to AAHCA in order to protect the interests of the
\nAmerican taxpayers.
\n3 See GAO Report No. GAO\/GGD-95-27, Tax Administration: Earned Income Credit \u2013 Data on Noncompliance and Illegal Alien Recipients
\n(October 1994), available here, GAO Report No. GAO\/GGD-95-122BR, Earned Income Credit: Targeting to the Working Poor (March 1995),
\navailable here and Edwin S. Rubenstein, The Earned Income Tax Credit and Illegal Immigration: A Study in Fraud, Abuse, and Liberal
\nActivism (Spring 2009), available here.
\n4 See Ruth Ellen Wasem, Congressional Research Service Report No. RL34500, Unauthorized Aliens\u2019 Access to Federal Benefits: Policy and
\nIssues (May 21, 2008), available here (last viewed July 24, 2009).
\n5 See U.S. Department of Agriculture Report No. FSP-07-CHAR, Characteristics of Food Stamp Households, Fiscal Year 2006 (September
\n2007) (not available online); U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, An Analysis of Overpayments Not Included
\nIn the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Measure for \u2018Prevention of Overpayments\u2019, available
\nhere (last viewed July 24, 2009); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Characteristics and Financial Circumstances of TANF
\nRecipients, Fiscal Year 2006, Table 12, (November 1, 2007), available here. See also, Steven A. Camarota, Center for Immigration Studies
\nReport, The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget (August 2004), available here.
\n6 Section 242(a)(2) (starting on page 133, line 10).
\n7 Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, Pub. L.. No. 110-185, \u00a7 101 (2008). The House passed bill would have permitted illegal aliens to receive the
\nstimulus rebates, language was added in the Senate bill and that language was enacted into law.
\n8 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L.. No. 111-16. When the bill originally passed the House and Senate, it did not
\ninclude adequate language to exclude illegal aliens from eligibility because the \u201csubstantial presence test,\u201d an existing provision of the tax
\ncode, and the lack of language limiting availability only to persons using a valid SSN would allow illegal aliens to receive the tax credit. See 26
\nU.S.C. \u00a7 7701(b)(3) (detailing the substantial presence test). Congressional leaders originally denied that the language was deficient and
\nwhen the media reported on this issue, Congress eventually bowed to public pressure and included a fix in the conference report. See ABC
\nNews, \u201cStimulus Seeks to Bar Illegals From Tax Credit\u201d (January 29, 2009), available here (last viewed July 24, 2009). At the time of this
\narticle, the legislation actually did permit illegal aliens to obtain the tax credit, but within weeks the language in the conference report was
\nchanged to preclude illegal aliens from obtaining the tax credit. HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FAIR House Health Reform Bill Will Allow Illegal Aliens to Receive Taxpayer-Funded Health Care Critics of America\u2019s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (AAHCA), the health care reform bill currently working its way through the House of Representatives, have suggested the bill will provide taxpayer-funded health care to illegal aliens. Supporters of the bill maintain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}