Gah. I can't even parse the guy's response, due to unclear antecedents and my own ignorance of economics. Hivemind help?

We will be buying it for them* because there is no way that illegals will be able to pay the actual cost of health insurance. So it will either be subsidized (we pay), or it will be rationed by scarcity when reimbursements are mandated at below cost levels (we pay in lowered quality of care). Economic laws are binding as laws of physics. Prices and their effects are as incontrovertible as gravity.

* health insurance for illegal aliens

If the aliens are uninsured, don't we taxes in some ways pay for their health care now, as they may end up in emergency rooms?

We will be buying it for them* because there is no way that illegals will be able to pay the actual cost of health insurance. So it will either be subsidized (we pay), or it will be rationed by scarcity when reimbursements are mandated at below cost levels (we pay in lowered quality of care). Economic laws are binding as laws of physics. Prices and their effects are as incontrovertible as gravity.

My thought on that is "And this is different from today how?". We are not going to directly subsidize illegals, so number two would apply, but that's exactly what we have today with ER care.

Or, exactly what Sophia said.

If the aliens are uninsured, don't we taxes in some ways pay for their health care now, as they may end up in emergency rooms?

I was just going to say, don't we already pay for it. Many uninsured people end up at the ER becauase they can't afford to see a doctor and the ER's have to treat them. We pay in taxes and higher hospital costs which are translated to higher insurance premiums for the insured.

I was just going to say, don't we already pay for it. Many uninsured people end up at the ER becauase they can't afford to see a doctor and the ER's have to treat them. We pay in taxes and higher hospital costs which are translated to higher insurance premiums for the insured.

Exactly. And since most illegal aliens pay taxes, they should by rights have access to whatever public option is available.

One glaring lack-of-explicit-mention in most "illegal aliens stealing our taxes" conversations: there's a big difference between illegal-aliens-being-paid-under-the-table (illegal on the part of the employer, as well, and obviously no taxes being withheld), and illegal-aliens-faking-documentation-but-being-paid-legally...which involves federal and state taxes being withheld, albeit under fraudulent circumstances.

Lots of "illegal aliens" in Washington and Oregon are improperly-documented, but legally-paid, non-citizens. All the right taxes ARE being withheld, so they're stealing nothing (except headcount - theoretically, one of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed folk in WA or OR could hold the job being filled by an illegal).

I think it's just good public health policy, not even getting into anything else.

Today is kind of nuts.

I think it's just good public health policy, not even getting into anything else.

(whispers in a very snarky voice, "Except lots of right-leaning members of my extended family argue that the BEST public-health-policy in these circumstances is toss them all back over the Rio, don't make them WELL.")

Okay, that's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

My response:

please clarify: How is this different from the status quo? Is your complaint the lack of enforcement clause for "affordability credit" eligibility?

And since tax dollars pay for ER visits already, couldn't it actually lower costs if *somehow* (if illegal aliens cheat the system) tax dollars went to their preventative care instead?

SH, thanks for that very salient point. I shall hold it in reserve.

Once more into the breach, dear friends!

(If this gets annoying/too blood pressure raising, lemme know and I'll stop)

(whispers in a very snarky voice, "Except lots of right-leaning members of my extended family argue that the BEST public-health-policy in these circumstances is toss them all back over the Rio, don't make them WELL.")

Apparently those family members don't need to eat.