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A look at health care: illegals and elections
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According to NewsMax.com, the illegal alien issue hasn’t gone away in the health care debate. I could not help but think of this watching District 9 the other night. That mockumentary, of course, covers the plight of the aliens who get stranded in South Africa. The Prawns as they are known are not given health care but they are provided cat food.
The illegal alien smoke screen is alive and well. It does help rally the right wing troops. Don’t get excited because it is a non-issue. An illegal alien who shows up at an emergency hospital today gets care. That won’t change. Do we really expect illegals to come out of the woodwork and line up at doctors’ offices? Not likely. They do like to keep a low profile.
But here is the NewsMax spin:
“The president of the National Council of La Raza, America's largest Hispanic advocacy organization, said healthcare reform should include "everyone" — including illegal aliens.
Speaking at a press conference in support of President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul the healthcare system, La Raza President Janet Murguia said:
"From our perspective there's a strong case to be made in this country for us to reform healthcare," and "it ought to include everyone.
"We know that politically it's very difficult right now to take on the issue of undocumenteds [but] there's no reason why we shouldn't be trying to cover as many people as possible, certainly when it comes to undocumented children. Our goal should be to have healthcare for everyone."
Murguia told CNSNews: "In terms of fairness and cost efficiencies, I think it's in the interest of healthcare reform to have access to as many people as possible."
Language inserted in the healthcare reform legislation would make federal health insurance subsidies available only to U.S. citizens and legal residents. But the House and Senate bills do not contain a clear provision for verifying citizenship status.
Rep. Michael Honda, a California Democrat, said undocumented aliens, "if they can afford it, should be able to buy their own private plans. It keeps them out of the emergency room."
Rep. Honda and other Democrats who support his position say that the illegals should be able to buy insurance "even if it comes through a government-established exchange," the Washington Times reported.
But Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, declared: "If anyone can, with a straight face, advocate that we should provide health insurance for people who broke into our country, broke our laws and for the most part are criminals, I don't know where they ever would draw the line."
On another front, NewsMax also wrote about how two governor’s races may show a national trend. I wrote about New Jersey and Virginia a month or so ago. The race in New Jersey is especially interesting because the issues seem to be health care and corruption. Those are the national themes as well, although the corruption charges in this case seem to be aimed at GOP Chris Christie. Early on, Jon Corzine ran as the Obama/Corzine team. That may have been tempered a bit over time. Still, since most statewide and national races are confined to even years, these two off-year elections loom large.
According to NewsMax:
“Washington insiders are keeping a close watch on the two gubernatorial races that will be decided in November — because they could determine President Barack Obama's ability to enact his legislative agenda.
And the Republican candidate is leading in both races.
The insiders believe that if voters elect Republican governors in New Jersey and Virginia, Democrats in Congress will think twice about supporting Obama's agenda.
In New Jersey, Republican challenger Chris Christie holds a 7-point lead over incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine, 48 percent to 41 percent, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll in late September.
Independent candidate Chris Daggett received 6 percent. A more recent poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University showed Corzine and Christie virtually deadlocked.
In Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell holds a narrow 2-point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds, another Rasmussen survey revealed. The incumbent, Democrat Tim Kaine, is barred by law from running for a consecutive term.
The race is "being seen by both sides as a referendum on President Obama," Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political communication at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., told USA Today.
Obama won both Virginia and New Jersey handily in 2008. But Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, said the Obama administration "mishandled" healthcare legislation and that is affecting the gubernatorial campaign.”
I think we can even go beyond Obama’s handling of health care. New Jersey may actually be a clearer referendum on the GOP and Democratic approach. That has been Christie’s race all along. The corruption stuff didn’t really dent his lead. The health insurance ads are newer. Corzine says Christie would deny coverage for mammograms. Christie responds that his mother survived extra years due to one and he’d never cut them. The lead seems to be shrinking. Are the ads working? We’ll see in 4 weeks.
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