Since the United States was approaching the closure of the government, the Republicans repeatedly accused the Democrats of forcing this closure, because they want immigrants who are in the country illegally, have access to medical care.
“Democrats threaten to close the entire government, because they want to provide illegal immigrants with hundreds of billions of dollars in the form of medical benefits,” said Vice President J. D. Vance. September 28th EN “Fox News Sunday”.
President Donald TrumpThe speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson and members of the Congress from the Republican Party repeated this again and again.
This is a wrong statement.
Democrats refused to vote for the resolution of the Republicans to extend the term of federal expenses, and their position is partially based on health care expenses.
Democrats want to extend the subsidies of the AC ACA ACTIONAL MEDICAL RECRIPTION (ACA) of the Covid era, the validity of which expires at the end of the year, and cancel the Medicaid reduction, included in the bill on taxes and expenses that Trump signed this summer.
The proposal of the Democrats will not offer medical care to immigrants without legal status; This population is no longer the right to receive medical care funded from the federal budget. Instead, the proposal will restore access to certain healthcare programs for immigrants with documents that will lose access in accordance with republican law.
The White House did not respond to the Politifact request about the comments to verify the facts. Vance answered criticism About his argument in another interview, claiming that he was included in the Democrats of the costs. This is not there.
A White House account in x He continued the topic by publishing the screenshots of the proposal of the Democratic Party, which cancels the section of the republican law entitled “The right to receive medical care for foreigners.” It is important to know that these changes will not provide access to Medicaid immigrants without legal status.
Vance again defended his statement in press conference In the White House on October 1, saying that former President Joe Biden “abolished the status of illegal immigration”, which facilitated migrants access to federal assistance.
It is important to keep in mind that many people Gives legal status through the programs of parole for compassion or temporary secure status (TPS) do not automatically have the right to participate in the Medicaid program; TPS beneficiaries do not have the rightAnd many people who entered the country with humanitarian permits have to wait five years before gaining access to the program.
The Trump administration canceled the parole and TPS for many people, which deprived them of the right to participate in Medicaid and ACA medical insurance plans.
We did not find any evidence that the Democrats want to spend hundreds of billions on the costs of medical insurance for illegal immigrants.
Immigrants without legal status are no longer right
Most of the federal healthcare funds cannot be spent on people who are in the country illegally. They cannot register in Medicaid or Medicare and do not have the right to purchase medical insurance through insurance markets created by ACA.
A small Medicaid program reimburses to the hospitals to the emergency medical care to unsplained people, which may include, among other things, immigrants who are in the country illegally.
States such as Illinois and California Extended coating Medicaid For people, regardless of their immigration status, and the States pay insurance for this. Federal law has already forbidden the states to use federal funds for these programs. A Previous version The bill on the expenses of the Republicans would punish these states with the retention of funds, but this situation did not last long.
People who are in the country are illegally can receive medical care funded from the federal budget in emergency cases; In such situations, hospitals should provide assistance, even if a person does not have medical insurance or documents. The Emergency Medicaid program covers the hospital treatment of immigrants who would have the right to participate in the Medicaid program, if not for their immigration status. Republican law on taxes and expenses reduced the amount which hospitals can receive for this assistance.
Most of the expenses for emergency medical care are on the birth of children. In total, it represented less than 1% expenses In total, under the Medicaid program in the fourth year 2023, according to KFF, a non -profit organization involved in medical information, which includes KFF Health News.
Republican law limits access to healthcare for immigrants with legal status
The republican bill on taxes and expenses made several changes to the right to medical maintenance of immigrants living in the country with documents. It is assumed that 1.4 million legal immigrants They will lose medical insurance, according to the analysis of the forecasts of KFF. Budgetary Office of Congress.
Starting from October 2026, the law will limit the right to participate in Medicaid and the medical insurance program for children (Chip) by legal permanent residents, persons from the Marshalls, Micronesia or Palau, who legally live in the country in accordance International agreementI'm already sure Cubans and Haitians.
Previously a large group, defined as “Qualified non -citizens”He had the right to Medicaid and Chip, including refugees and people who received shelter.
Some immigrants entitled to Medicaid and Chip, for example, legal permanent residents, They will have to wait five years Before gaining access to benefits.
The law also limited the right to insurance at ACA trading floors the same group that has the right to Medicaid and Chip, starting on January 1, 2027. Previously, people described as “Legally present” had the right. This group included “qualified non -citizens” who have the right to Medicaid, and people with short -term status, such as TPS or foreign students.
The beneficiaries of the Defense Program program (DACA) for immigrants who came to the country in childhood without permission, previously met the requirements for covering the ACA and its subsidies. But they no longer have the right to The rule of the Trump administration It entered into force in August.
Democratic proposal will restore access for legal immigrants
Budget proposal The Democrats bill, represented on September 17, will partially allow you to forever extend the ACA subsidies and turn the back of the billions of dollars of republican Medicaid republican and other health programs.
This change will make the Medicaid, Chip and ACA coverage available to all legal immigrants who previously have the right, such as refugees and people who have received asylum.
The proposal of the Democratic Party will not expand the right to participate in the public health programs funded from the federal budget for immigrants without legal status.
Vance said that the democrats policy will provide hundreds of billions of dollars of medical benefits to illegal immigrants, and the White House did not reveal the source of this amount. When Johnson was under pressure In support of a similar argument, he referred to the budgetary department of the Congress (CBO).
KFF analysis CBO ratings He found that the provisions of the republican law regarding legal immigrants will reduce federal expenses by 131 billion dollars; This forecast did not include an assessment of people without legal status.
Our decision
Vance said: “Democrats threaten to close the entire government because they want to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in the form of medical benefits to illegal immigrants.”
In most cases, immigrants who are in the United States without legal permission are not entitled to participate in the healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid funds funded from the federal budget, and also cannot look for insurance coverage in the ACA market or submit applications on subsidies.
The budget proposal of the Democrats will not change this.
Democrats want to restore access to certain health care programs for legal immigrants, which will lose access in accordance with the republican law on taxes and expenses, among other measures aimed at facilitating the preservation of Medicaid and ACA insurance plans.
His proposal will not provide funds funded from the federal budget for medical care for people in the country without legal permission, since they initially did not have access to them.
A small amount of financing intended for Emergency Medicaid reimburses the expenses of hospitals that provide urgent assistance to immigrants that would have the right to Medicaid, if not for their immigration status. Finally, we did not find any evidence in support of Vance’s statement that democrats want “hundreds of billions” of medical benefits for migrants living in the country illegally.
We evaluate this statement as false.
Our sources
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