Bill to Deny Health Care to Illegal Immigrants Fails
by TChris
The House rejected an ill-conceived effort to turn doctors into snitches. A bill proposed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) would have denied emergency room care to undocumented immigrants (only citizens and legal visitors have the right to live when an appendix ruptures, after all, and it's much better to have illegal workers spreading communicable diseases than coming in for treatment). It also would have invaded physician-patient privilege by requiring doctors to report undocumented immigrants to immigration authorities, a move that would have dissuaded illegal workers from seeking the health care that the bill denies them anyway.
Dumping on the desparate workers who cross borders for jobs used to be politically popular, but not this year. The bill was defeated 331-88.
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