Healthcare: for all or citizens only? Essay -- Legal Issues, Immigrati

Everyday someone is sent to the hospital. Not only are they in fear of losing their life but also in fear of being in debt due to the prices of health care treatment they need. But what if this patient happens to be an illegal immigrant? Should doctors deny him/her because they lack citizenship? Or should illegal immigrants be treated just like any other patients by having a right to health care? Throughout the past decade restrictions on eligibility for taxpayer-subsidized medical care has risen at both the state and national level. Some of these restrictions are based on laws and reform acts that have been produced by legal organizations as well as political federations. On a federal level, the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 (PRWORA) prohibits hospital districts from offering free or discounted nonemergency medical care for noncitizens (Rao, 2003, p.1). Immigrants are taking advantage of the healthcare we provide for the nation, yet some of them are not even legal citizens. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (a non-profit group that opposes illegal immigration), the cost of treating illegal aliens’ amounted to nearly $11 billion in 2009. However, the HRI (Health Research Institute) reported that the government spent approximately $2.2 trillion on United States citizens in 2009. Illegal immigrants are net consumers of public services and they contribute to economic growth (McCarthy, 1995). Since 1990, immigrants have contributed to job growth in three main ways: They fill an increasing share of jobs overall, they take jobs in labor-scarce regions, and they fill the types of jobs native workers often shun. The foreign-born make up only 11.3 percent of the U.S. population and 14 percent of the labor force... ... Administration nevertheless improperly approved almost every claim of â€Å"noncitizen† workers who had been issued a Social Security number after the effective date, but who lacked the required work authorization. It is already unjust that these poor people are working for and contributing to the government, yet they are not receiving social security like everyone else. Based on this information, it should be legalized that illegal immigrants should have the right to health care. These hard working migrants contribute so much to the economy and are not repaid properly because they are not American citizens. In addition, they are the ones who do the â€Å"minor† and low paying careers that no one would ever think of doing. Our nation is one that is built on the foundation of equality and freedom for all and because of that we should all be entitled to the same priorities.