But the
problem is that this bill doesn't do anything that it says it does. It
is based on a blatantly partisan Senate report that doesn't even say
what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim that it says. It is baffling how many of my Republican colleagues believe that this
report that they keep citing actually said anything about undocumented
immigrants. Did you ``read'' this report in the same way that you
``read'' the AHCA and all of its amendments? If you actually read the report, you would know that it does not
state that these individuals were undocumented immigrants, but only
that they did not complete the verification process. The hurdles might
have been too big, it might have taken too much time or too much
effort, and they dropped out of the verification process without
completing it. The report also doesn't say that hundreds of thousands of
undocumented immigrants enrolled and received premium credits. The
report states that ``as of September 30, 2015, CMS awarded
approximately $750 million in advance premium tax credits to
individuals enrolled through healthcare.gov who CMS later determined to
be ineligible. . . .''
It is funny that the daughter of Mexican American immigrants is able
to read and understand the distinctions made in this report better than
some of my native-born colleagues can. Mr. Speaker, I want to close by begging my Republican colleagues to
prove to me that this bill isn't about shutting out immigrants from
access to care: legal immigrants or children of those born overseas to
our military or newborn children or victims of domestic violence or
victims of human trafficking. Prove to me that you care about the health and wellbeing of all
Americans, regardless of the color of their skin or their economic
circumstances. I am actually in agreement with you that ineligible individuals
should not see a single penny of the subsidies provided by both the ACA
and the AHCA, but there are protections already in place where only
citizens and people lawfully present in the United States can enroll in
marketplace coverage and get subsidies to help them pay their premiums
and cost-sharing charges. This bill doesn't fix anything. It just seeks to further demonize
immigrants as criminals and people with my last name out of the
healthcare system. Instead of wasting our time on a bill that is in search of a problem
to solve, a problem that doesn't even exist, let's work together to
make sure that other Americans are not caught up in the unintended
consequences of this bill and aren't denied coverage when they are
actually eligible for those subsidies and that coverage. Let's actually work on a better way for the American people.
Keywords matched
undocumented immigrants