Colorado - Illegal Immigrants no longer eligble for state health care

pickledpepperRN · Aug 24, 2006

No offense is intended, but I wholly agree with this new law. I am from California, a state that has been financially devastated by providing costly services such as healthcare, education, and social programs to illegal immigrants.
Six years ago I was a grocery store clerk in a city that had a large immigrant population. I would cash the payroll checks of these individuals who always provided a resident alien card as a form of identification. The groceries would be paid for with food stamps, the baby formula and cereals would be paid for with WIC vouchers, and a welfare check would be cashed at the end of the entire transaction. The aforementioned scenario would occur multiple times throughout my workshifts at the supermarket. My honest opinion is that illegal immigrants utilize more services than they reasonably pay for.

I may be wrong but think the same people cashing payroll checks probably didn't cash a welfare check at the end of the transaction.

A person with a valid resident alien card is not an illegal immigrant.

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Definition of Common Immigration Terms

Immigrant =green card holder=resident alien=permanent resident an alien who has been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Essentially has the same rights and obligations as a U.S. citizen with the exceptions of voting, holding certain public offices and employment by federal agencies in civil service positions.

http://www.grads.vt.edu/igss/general_info/definitions.html

Here is the UNC-OP definition for Resident Alien - Persons who are not citizens or nationals of the United States but who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States and hold a "green card" - Form I-151. and who have been admitted as legal immigrants for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident alien status

http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/tools/attrition/index.htm

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Aug 24, 2006

A person with a valid resident alien card is not an illegal immigrant.

They could be an illegal immigeant if they used fake documents to obtain that card.

By the same token - the immigration system is very difficult and expensive to navigate. If we want them here legally - that would be easy enough to do - we could have them be protected by wage and labor laws, paying taxes and paying for the sersvices they receive - making the immigration system easier to would be one way to do that - but then they would no longer be a cheap source of slave labor.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2006

I may be wrong but think the same people cashing payroll checks probably didn't cash a welfare check at the end of the transaction.

Well, you're wrong. Seventy percent of all welfare recipients are employed; however, they're employed at so-called 'bad jobs'.

http://www.upjohninst.org/publications/newsletter/tjb597.pdf#search='welfare%20recipients%20employed'

Katnip, RN · Aug 24, 2006

Not Law, Health and Human Services regulations based upon a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.
Regulations are not Law. One is a set of rules, the other, actual legislation. The issue merely needs a clarification by Congress. And there is a push, of late, to do just that.
~faith,
Timothy.

I for one wholeheartedly hope this clarification comes soon. It annoys the heck out of me that just because you happen to be born in the US you are considered a citizen. Makes no sense. If you're parents are citizens or legal, permanent residents, that's different.

There are pregnant women who will fly here-first class mind you-from south of the border, have their babies here-courtesy of US dollars, they don't pay for the care-and fly back home until baby is older. Absolutely ridiculous.

SaharaOnyxRN · Aug 24, 2006

Very poor public policy because while some family members may be "illegal" what will happen to their children who are born here? (They are citizens by definition)
If we cut off access to vaccination programs we are putting other children at risk
I am not advocating an open door for immigration but I do think that we need to provide basic medical care for people. The demand for illegal workers is driven by business. Make it very expensive for businesses to be caught hiring illegals and we will reduce the number of immigrants.

I agree with you there. I am against illegal immigration. But, I agree, we with you on that. If we don't vaccinate then that puts all children at risk. I wonder how many of the migrant children in my daughter's school would test positive if they got a TB skin test. That's another issue that I wonder about.

SaharaOnyxRN · Aug 24, 2006

To me, it is not OK to allow healthcare to people who are not citizens of the United States unless we also give this benefit to all the hard working Americans who are uninsured and underinsured. Too many fall in the gap where they make too much for state aid, but not enough to afford their health insurance. That's shameful. It's kind of like letting people who crash a wedding sit down and eat the expensive catered dinner for free, while telling the legitimate, invited guests with an invitation, that they need to pay for their dinner.

You hit the nail on the head there. I've been screaming this for ages. I remember when I was a nursing student (and typically broke) and I had to have a physical. Well, I've always been low-income, so I never had insurance. I remember being required to get this physical for the upper division of nursing school. Well, the doctor wanted me to get some nuclear work done to rule out thyroid abnormalities. Needless to say, the bill was through the roof for this medical procedure and my student insurance did not pay any of it. The hospital where I had the procedure done harrassed me about the $600 bill. I offered to pay what I could on a monthly basis and they refused to accept it. Now, i wasn't working, so I couldn't pay much, but at least I was willing to do something. Well, they told me that they couldn't accept anything under $100/month and would forward it to a collection agency. You know what? I didn't stop them. I was fed up. I told that lady, "Well, I suppose if I was an illegal immigrant, then I wouldn't have to pay anything would I?" The lady said not another word. And the collection agency gave up on me.

But you know I shouldn't have to go through that. I'm not some welfare chick getting over. I was a low-income student trying to better my life, but I guess I don't get any breaks. But all you need is to be an illegal immigrant and you get the whole shabang.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Aug 24, 2006

How very true..... we were talking to a friend of ours the other day who is getting ready to go to Mexico. Someone she knew had gotten hurt while doing some kind of water sport while he and his wife were in Mexico and needed emergency treatment. The hospital required a $10,000 CASH payment up front before they would treat him!!!!!

Did he have travel medical insurance and they still wanted this money? Nobody should ever go anywhere in the world without it.

I'm a little confused about the legal immigrants mentioned in this thread getting public funds. When I immigrated here I either had to become a citizen or have paid ten years worth of taxes before taking any public funds. I haven't wanted nor needed public funds, but I'm wondering how they got foodstamps.

azerrn · Aug 24, 2006

The catch 22 on this is, hospitals still have to treat them, so they are going to start losing a horrendous amount of money if they do not get compensated.

You are right on! HospitalsERs will still have to treat "illegals" that come in for health care. We have a notice posted in our ER that no one will be turned away because of an inability to pay for health care.

I think though that the new law is designed to reduce the number of "illegals" that apply for welfare and medicaid type programs. At my hospital, many illegals that come to the ER give fake names and fake dates of birth. One guy showed up twice in the same day with different names and birth dates...his bad luck to get the same triage RN.

Either way, the hospital won't get paid...by the patient or the government.

hope3456, ASN, RN · Aug 24, 2006

I would be wholly in favor of this law, if it were the policy of the United States to actively prevent and interdict illegal aliens. And I would be wholly in favor of that, as well.
But, if we are purposely turning a blind eye to these people coming, we bear some responsibility for them while they are here. Turning a blind eye again is just immoral.
~faith,
Timothy.

I agree that politicians would like to turn a blind eye to the immigration problem, b/c they are friends with the big corporations that profit from the cheap labor illegal immigrants provide.

However, colorado citizens are NOT turning a blind eye. This law (see OP) was passed b/c of public outrage. Voters let the elected state representatives know that they would be held accountable for doing something about this issue come election day.

pickledpepperRN · Aug 24, 2006

Well, you're wrong. Seventy percent of all welfare recipients are employed; however, they're employed at so-called 'bad jobs'.
http://www.upjohninst.org/publications/newsletter/tjb597.pdf#search='welfare%20recipients%20employed'

Thinking back I know you are right.

One of our nursing asststants supports her mother and two daughters. I don't know whether they get a welfare check but they do use food stamps. (I don't think it is stamps anymore.)

She was born in the USA.

I know there are counterfit green cards.

pickledpepperRN · Aug 24, 2006

They could be an illegal immigeant if they used fake documents to obtain that card.
By the same token - the immigration system is very difficult and expensive to navigate. If we want them here legally - that would be easy enough to do - we could have them be protected by wage and labor laws, paying taxes and paying for the sersvices they receive - making the immigration system easier to would be one way to do that - but then they would no longer be a cheap source of slave labor.

I agree. If we enforce the labor laws regarding wages and hours of work by prosecuting employers they will be more likely to hire citizens and legal residents. Citizend should not put up with their employer breaking the law.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Aug 24, 2006

Not Law, Health and Human Services regulations based upon a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment.
Regulations are not Law. One is a set of rules, the other, actual legislation. The issue merely needs a clarification by Congress. And there is a push, of late, to do just that.
~faith,
Timothy.

From INS:

Who is born a United States citizen?Generally, people are born U.S. citizens if they are born in the United States or if they are born to U.S. citizens:

(1) By being born in the United States

If you were born in the United States (including, in most cases, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), you are an American citizen at birth (unless you were born to a foreign diplomat). Your birth certificate is proof of your citizenship.

It really isn't a misinterpretation. This has been a commonly accepted way to citizenship for generations.

True story: I met a brazilian exchange student years ago. Her father was a citizen of Sweden. Her mother was Brazilian and the student was born in Oregon. She had triple citizenship and had passports for all three countries.

I think any attempt to redefine the birth standard of citizenship would be shot down in the courts as being a citizen by birth is arguably a constitutional right.