One of the most contentious aspects of the new healthcare legislation is whether illegal immigrants will get free or subsidized benefits at the expense of taxpayers. Chances are many will, particularly those who are working using stolen Social Security numbers.
The new health law excludes illegal immigrants from receiving premium subsidies, and they are banned from purchasing insurance with their own funds by the legislation. In order to do so, proof of citizenship or legal resident status is required. But therein lies the rub. Currently the government has no fail-proof system to provide citizenship or legal status verification.
The major tool that the government uses to check Social Security numbers and legal status of workers is called E-Verify. According to the research company that evaluated the system for the Department of Homeland Security, E-Verify fails to catch more than half the unauthorized workers it checks. It fails because the systems cannot detect identity fraud when an illegal works under the name and legitimate Social Security number of someone else.
The legislation specifies that, in cases where the documents provided by someone attesting to be a citizen of the United States don’t match up with those of the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security, Medicaid rules will apply. Under those rules individuals start on Medicaid, but if they are unable to resolve documentation problems such as the lack of valid citizenship papers, they are simply dis-enrolled after 90 days. States across the nation are struggling to cover the growing burdens of Medicaid driving up state and local taxes as well.
TSCL believes that more accurate means of verification and tough eligibility rules must be developed to protect taxpayers and seniors from document fraud, abuse, and erroneous payments that would provide healthcare for illegal immigrants.
Sources: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Subtitle F, Sec. 1501, March 24, 2010. “E-Verify Misses Half of Illegal Workers, Report Finds,” The Associated Press, February 25, 2010.



