Recently,
Luis Gutiérrez, a representative
for Illinois’ 4th Congressional district, offered up a new bill
which already seems to be quite controversial. He feels as though we should begin to include illegal
immigrants who are living in America in the ObamaCare program. This would mean that all illegal
immigrants would be forced to sign up for health insurance and would receive
all of the benefits that legal citizens currently receive. He thinks that it is immoral and wrong
for these people to be excluded from these benefits. Originally, the ObamaCare legislation explicitly excluded
illegal citizens from benefiting from the program but Gutiérrez seems to
believe that changing this policy would actually help us out as a nation in the
long run.
Gutiérrez’s
main argument is that including this large group of illegal immigrants in
ObamaCare will help out the rest of the population who is already enrolled in
the program. If more people have
ObamaCare then the costs of hospitals that work with this program will go down,
the number of uninsured people who live and work in America would decrease, and
the overall cost of health insurance would also decrease. The issue I think many people will have
with Gutiérrez’s new bill though, is that these illegal immigrants are not
actually citizens and are not paying taxes like the rest of the American
population; so why should they get to have the same privileges that the rest of
us do?
Immigration has started to come up a lot
in the news in the past few months due to the Presidential election
debates. Candidates like Donald
Trump have discussed this issue a lot and have shed light on how bad the
immigration problem in America actually is. For this reason, I don’t think that many people will support
Gutiérrez’s new bill. He will most
likely stir up a ton of controversy and gain a lot of time in the
spotlight. I am not exactly sure
where I stand on this issue right now or how I feel about this new bill proposal
but from first glance and hearing what Gutiérrez had to say about it, I don’t
see how it could be a very good or realistic idea. I am curious as to what President Obama will have to say
about this.
1 comment:
I have to say that I agree that this proposal isn't a very realistic option. Obviously immigration is currently a very hot button issue and is definitely going to be one of emphasis in the upcoming elections, and though I'm not personally against this proposal, I just don't see this bill gaining any support. It just doesn't seem practical to try to extend "ObamaCare" coverages to illegal immigrants during a time when so many people in the country are adamantly in favor of deporting such illegals. I don't imagine that this proposal will go over too kindly with Republicans in Congress, who already are not the biggest fans of the ACA. However, Gutierrez does cite the Pope's speech as his reasoning for such extended coverage and that we should "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." But even though it seems very unlikely that this current proposal will be positively received, it might open conversation about invoking the Pope's argument to develop an easier pathway to citizenship for illegals already living in this country.
Post a Comment