Sam Johnson strives to stop taxpayer-funded govt. run health insurance for illegal immigrants

November 6, 2009

At a news conference today on Capitol Hill, U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) detailed his efforts to rule out taxpayer subsidized health insurance for illegal immigrants. Later today Johnson will offer several amendments to clarify the vague language that grants taxpayer funded health insurance benefits to illegal immigrants in H.R. 3926, the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

“Unfortunately, since my colleagues and I attempted to fix this problem this summer, the problem has gotten worse, not better. Speaker Pelosi’s latest version of government-run health insurance actually covers 2.5 million more illegal immigrants than her last attempt,” said Johnson.

These protections are needed as a November 2, 2009 nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report on immigration and pending health reform legislation concluded, “The House bill contains no express restrictions on noncitizens – whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently – accessing and paying for coverage available through the health insurance exchange.”

“The Democrats’ healthcare bill spends hundreds of billions of dollars on subsidies for people to have access to government-run healthcare. We need to ensure that American citizens are the ONLY ones receiving these benefits,” said Johnson.

Johnson seeks tougher citizenship check tools and more stringent enforcement mechanisms to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing the government-run health program. Specifically, Johnson strives to ensure that people will have to prove who they say they are with a valid photo identification to receive taxpayer subsidized health insurance.

“There are so many activities that currently require a valid photo identification: getting on an airplane, driving a car, entering a government building, using a credit card, writing a check, or renting a movie at Blockbuster. It’s just common sense that Congress would require the same proof of identification for someone to rent a $4 movie as they should for people accessing the thousands of dollars of government healthcare benefits,” wondered Johnson.

Nowhere in H.R. 3962 is the Commissioner required to apply the existing citizenship and identity verification requirements that exist in current law. Another amendment will prevent the American taxpayers from being forced to finance welfare benefits for illegal aliens by clarifying that all potential Medicaid enrollees must first go through tougher citizenship and identity verification requirements.

These amendments mark Johnson's third attempt in nearly as many months to guarantee that illegal immigrants do not receive taxpayer-funded health insurance benefits under the government-run health insurance plan. In July, Johnson co-authored an initiative to prohibit illegal immigrants from accessing taxpayer subsidized care in the new government-run plan; the Committee Democrats voted the measure down. This September, Johnson attempted to offer a common-sense immigration provision in a Ways and Means Committee markup that mirrored legislation the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee passed just days before; House Democrats thwarted Johnson’s attempts.

Johnson coordinated with Congressmen Nathan Deal (9th Dist.-Ga.), Dean Heller (2nd Dist.-Nev.), and Joe Wilson (2nd Dist.-S.C.) when offering today’s amendments. FAIR, a national, nonprofit, public-interest organization for immigration reform, and NumbersUSA also participated in the news conference.

Johnson represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.

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